More than 1,000 people in Gaza have lost their lives since the October ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, brokered with US mediation, while the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave remains catastrophic.
Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed 1,005 Palestinians since the agreement was reached, according to an announcement made Wednesday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“We mourn as Gaza reaches yet another tragic milestone. Thousands more people, who had been told the worst was over, are still burying their loved ones,” said Fikr Saltou, director of Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
Eight Months into Phase One
The ceasefire has halted major combat operations, but no agreement has been reached on implementing the second, more sensitive phase of the deal, under which Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza and Hamas would demilitarize.
Since October, Israel has further consolidated its presence in Palestinian territory and now controls 64% of the Gaza Strip, compared to the 53% stipulated in the agreement, according to Al Jazeera.
Last Friday, dozens of families in eastern Gaza were forced to flee their homes after Israeli forces placed yellow concrete blocks marking a further westward expansion of what is known as the “Yellow Line,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Earlier this month, Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Al Jazeera that the organization was not yet prepared to give up its weapons, noting that the fate of its military arsenal would be decided following extensive discussions with other Palestinian factions.
The ceasefire was also supposed to create the conditions for rebuilding Gaza and its healthcare system. Only 20 of the 37 hospitals in the besieged enclave remain partially operational, and not a single fully functioning hospital remains, according to OCHA.
“As the bombs kept falling and Gaza remained under near-total siege, world leaders convinced themselves that a piece of paper could substitute for accountability, for lifting the blockade, for getting medicine to people who needed it,” Saltou said. “Even now, as access to Gaza remains severely restricted and humanitarian aid is used as a weapon against a starving population, their silence continues.”
Since the start of what the article describes as Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza on October 23, more than 73,000 people have been killed. The majority of the territory has been reduced to rubble, and nearly 1.9 million people have been displaced.
