In a survey of almost two thousand Gaza families by the Palestine Shelter Cluster, over half said they now sleep in tents, and 94 percent lack adequate shelter. With winter approaching, those numbers frame the first anniversary of the truce that began on 10 October 2025, a truce that more than 100 aid and rights groups say “exists in name only”.
Human Rights Watch used the date to take stock. Its verdict: killings by Israeli forces have continued, food, water and aid still fall short, and not a single reconstruction project has started. Since the truce, the territory’s health authorities have registered a minimum of 1,400 deaths and 4,881 people hurt, and later ministry updates quoted by Al Jazeera are a little higher still. Over three years of war the toll has passed 74,000, among them more than 21,000 children.
On paper, recovery is planned. The Board of Peace, mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, unveiled a six-month programme on 23 September. The EU and the UN put Gaza’s reconstruction bill at 71.4 billion dollars over ten years. But money and access have not materialised, and the joint NGO statement blames Israeli limits on equipment and building materials.
Daily life reflects that gap. According to WHO data cited by HRW, just 35 of the 57 hospitals, field facilities included, function at all, none of them fully; 93 percent of schools are damaged or destroyed. Analysts who track nutrition expect two in three Gazans to stay acutely short of food for the rest of 2026. HRW also notes that the “Yellow Line” marking Israeli positions keeps moving west and now takes in some 64 percent of the territory.
HRW researcher Sarah Sanbar warned that outsiders wrongly picture life in Gaza drifting back to normal. NRC chief Jan Egeland used the words “utterly shameful” for this record.
HRW wants governments to shield civilians, refuse any plan to push Palestinians out and back a rebuilding effort grounded in their rights.
