Ten months after the Gaza ceasefire agreement was signed in October 2025, there has still been no Israeli withdrawal from the Strip and no reconstruction, while aid remains restricted and around two million Palestinians are confined to a narrow coastal area.
Last Monday, Gaza’s Government Media Office issued a report stating that the Israeli occupation had committed 4,379 violations of the ceasefire agreement since it came into effect, killing 1,286 Palestinians and injuring another 4,257.
The report also said Israel continues to block the agreed quantities of food, medicines, medical supplies, shelter materials and prefabricated homes from entering Gaza, where around 2.4 million Palestinians live, including 2.15 million displaced people, under catastrophic conditions.
Crisis Group: Ceasefire Promises Have Largely Failed
A report by the International Crisis Group highlighted the failure of both the ceasefire agreement and the Board of Peace to deliver on most of their promises, while Palestinians continue to bear the cost of Israel’s obstruction of efforts to end the ongoing manifestations of the war of genocide in Gaza.
The research organisation said a roadmap sponsored by the Board of Peace had failed to overcome the obstacles surrounding the Gaza ceasefire agreement. It argued that a combination of sustained pressure and diplomatic guarantees is now needed to break the deadlock and ensure that Palestinians play a central role in the recovery of the Strip.
In its report, prepared by Robert Malley, the organisation said Hamas agreed in July to a roadmap drawn up by the Board of Peace to advance the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Under the plan, Israel was supposed to allow aid to pass through a Palestinian technocratic committee.
However, the International Crisis Group said the Board of Peace later retreated from provisions contained in the roadmap following Israeli objections, further increasing uncertainty over Gaza’s future.
The Palestinian committee has also yet to begin governing the Strip, amid obstacles created by an ineffective US-led decision-making process and Tel Aviv’s refusal to allow Gaza to recover until Hamas surrenders all of its weapons.
The organisation warned that if the deadlock continues, Israel could entrench its occupation across most of Gaza while Hamas retains control over the remainder, leaving Palestinians trapped in a political and humanitarian impasse.
Worse still, it warned, the war could resume.
Calls to Separate Aid From Disarmament
The International Crisis Group called for the roadmap to be given a chance, arguing that governments should pressure the occupation state to loosen its suffocating grip on Gaza and separate the issue of Hamas surrendering its weapons from the entry of humanitarian aid.
The organisation said the 15-point roadmap appeared to resolve a dispute over disarmament, which remains a major obstacle to progress in the ceasefire, while empowering a team of Palestinian technocrats from the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza to lead the process.
But the apparent breakthrough was short-lived.
Within days, Israel rejected the agreement, after which the Board of Peace appeared to retreat from its provisions.
The episode, according to the report, became a stark reflection of a ceasefire that has failed to fulfil most of its promises and risks condemning Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians to permanent deprivation or plunging them back into war.
Preventing such outcomes, the report said, will require the United States, regional governments and European governments to pressure Israel to loosen its grip on Gaza, support the disarmament plan agreed by Palestinian factions and ensure that Gaza’s rehabilitation is driven by Palestinians themselves.
Reconstruction Still Has Not Begun
Although the ceasefire agreement came into force in October 2025, reconstruction of Gaza and the recovery of its besieged society have yet to begin.
The suffering has also continued.
Gaza remains devastated, its territory effectively divided, and its entire population has been confined to one-third of the Strip, struggling to secure sufficient food, water, medicine and shelter.
The Israeli military has meanwhile expanded its presence, regularly bombarded the Strip and imposed a suffocating blockade that has only been marginally eased under external pressure.
The Board of Peace’s 15-point roadmap was supposed to establish a new path forward by assigning the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza responsibility for overseeing both Gaza’s recovery and the disarmament process.
Washington Blamed for Deepening the Deadlock
The International Crisis Group placed a significant share of responsibility on Washington.
It said the United States claims to be advancing the ceasefire, but its dominance over the diplomatic process has created more problems than it has solved.
According to the report, the Board of Peace has evolved into a complicated bureaucratic body, further obstructing efforts to move Gaza beyond the current deadlock.
