It’s not over yet
The Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City, taken on October 11. At least 92% of homes in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
After two years of Israel’s non-stop bombing and deliberate starvation, Palestinians welcomed the shred of hope represented by the ceasefire. But their hospitals, schools, universities and holy sites have all been reduced to rubble.
Ceasefire – what ceasefire?
The Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect on October 10…
- Between October 10 and October 19 Israel committed 80 violations
- From October 10 to November 3, Israeli forces killed 236 people in Gaza, mostly civilians
- Only 145 aid trucks per day have been allowed into Gaza by Israel since October 10 – 600 a day are required for basic needs.
At least those who have been sheltering in tents outside the ruins of hospitals are no longer at risk of drone attack. But they are eking out a living amid the wreckage and raw sewage. There may be a pause in the bloodshed but the suffering continues.
More than nine out of 10 (92%) of homes have been destroyed or damaged according to the UN, leaving most people without adequate shelter. Amnesty International, the UN and others have labelled the destruction of Gaza a genocide.
The emotional devastation will last for generations
64,000
64,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed across the Gaza Strip, including at least 1,000 babies. We don’t know how many more have died due to preventable illnesses or are buried under the rubble.
Statement by UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell
The international charity Save the Children estimates that 2% of Gaza’s child population has been killed since October 2023. In a statement on October 8, Catherine Russell, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said: “In the last two years, a staggering 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed across the Gaza Strip, including at least 1,000 babies”.
We don’t know how many more have died due clean water and medicines scarce, infrastructure, non-existent and the healthcare system decimated, making survival a daily struggle. Should the ceasefire hold – and some Israeli ministers have vowed that it will not – what of the future?
The root cause of the violence is the occupation of Palestinian land. Even as Gaza was being bombed, illegal settlers in the West Bank stole ever more land from Palestinians as Israeli soldiers looked on – or joined in. In spite of the 20-point peace plan, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that there never will be a Palestinian state.
In the plan there is no mention of withdrawal from the West Bank. Gazans are required to hand over all weapons. The proposed Palestinian state is to be demilitarised. But there is no mention of Israel giving up a single gun.
It is clear that foreign bigwigs will be running the new state – leaders of other Arab countries, Trump himself and possibly Tony Blair, active supporter of the illegal invasion of Iraq. If and when power is handed over to Palestinians, it will be others who choose the new overlords, regardless of whom Palestinians want.
October 2025: Nafez’s weight dropped to just eight kilograms
The international charity Save the Children estimates that 2% of Gaza’s child population has been killed since October 2023
Reem Nast, a mother of seven, holds her 10-year-old son, Nafez, suffering from severe malnutrition, at Nuseirat camp, Gaza.
Nafez’s weight dropped to just eight kilograms and the family were in a small tent after being displaced from northern Gaza.
