Gaza Ceasefire, One Year On: Hostages Home, but Palestinians Call It a 'Ceasefire in Name Only'
The truce took effect on October 10, 2025. The fighting has largely stopped, but strikes continue, most of Gaza's people live in tents, and plans for reconstruction and disarmament have stalled.
The ceasefire in Gaza took effect on October 10, 2025. One year later, the most visible promise of the deal has been kept: all the Israeli hostages, or their remains, have been returned. But for the roughly two million Palestinians in the territory, the past twelve months have brought neither recovery nor security. Many describe what they live under as a "ceasefire in name only".
Up-to-date figures from inside Gaza are hard to come by. The numbers below are the latest we could verify, and each is dated.
Strikes have fallen, not stopped
Israeli strikes are far less frequent than during the war, but they have continued almost daily. As of early July 2026, Gaza's Health Ministry counted 1,053 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire, including more than 350 women and children, and a cumulative toll of 73,066 since the war began, according to reports by the Associated Press carried by PBS and Arab News. Israel says many of its strikes target militants who violate the truce.
Living in a shrinking space
An NPR report from April 2026 described how nearly everyone in Gaza was living in makeshift tents or bombed-out buildings, crowded into just under half of the territory along the Mediterranean coast, while Israeli troops held the rest. Few people could enter or leave, and the amount of aid entering had fallen.
The plan that stalled
The ceasefire was meant to move in phases. After the exchange of hostages and prisoners, the next steps, including Hamas's disarmament, an international stabilisation force and reconstruction, have stalled. By the middle of the year there was still no international force on the ground and no large-scale rebuilding.
Humanitarian organisations say much more is needed before anything like normal life can return.
Why it matters
Gaza remains at the centre of a wider regional crisis that now includes conflict involving Iran and attacks across the Gulf, as seen in the recent strikes on Saudi airports. India, which supports a negotiated two-state solution and has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza, has a direct interest in a lasting peace: millions of Indians live and work across the Gulf region.
We will update this report as new figures and assessments are published around the anniversary.
Sources
This article draws on the following reporting. Dates are when each source was originally published.
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