When the 2025 ceasefire that was called between Israel and Hamas came into force in January 2025, there were high hopes of a long-lasting peace in Gaza across the region. The deal, which was facilitated by the Qatari and Egyptian mediation, aimed at ending almost two years of unending bombardment and establishing a situation that would allow humanitarian access. However, in weeks, the news about Israeli airstrikes, targeted assassinations and redeployments of troops showed that the foundations of the truce were much weaker than proclaimed.
Medical sources in Rafah and Khan Younis hold that Israeli actions in the first months of the ceasefire have cost the lives of at least five Palestinians in alleged redeployment operations. In March and April, dozens of other violations were reported by the international monitors, including the representatives of the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Such repeated confrontations have destroyed the assurance of the ceasefire framework and the international mediation activities, and they tend to question the willingness of Israel to restrain.
Observers would point out that these events were part of a larger trend in past truces where operations proceed on the pretext of defensive operations. Civilians have been exposed to spontaneous escalations and new instabilities due to absence of clear accountability mechanisms in the terms of ceasefire.
Civilian toll and patterns of violence
The death toll, as recorded by regional officials in health institutions, demonstrates that over 67,000 Palestinians have been killed since the eruption of the conflict in 2023, over 80 percent of whom were civilians. A leaked database of the Israeli military confirms, through the corroboration of numerous media outlets, that there are at least 20,000 children among the dead. In spite of regular ceasefire calls, airstrikes and ground fire have been ongoing attacks on urban areas, refugee camps, and hospitals.
Those who have been monitoring the compliance with ceasefires have recorded about 1,000 violations within a period of ten months, and most of the violations have taken place in regions where humanitarian aid is to be given. Sniper fire and ground infiltrations have also been experienced even during formal pauses as well as adding to continuous displacement and civilian trauma. The rate of such incidents and their geographical distribution suggests that not only are the violations individual but also systematic, but also there is the lack of distinction between the realities of war and peace in Gaza.
Humanitarian fallout and access to aid
Humanitarian implications of such repetitive violations are terrible. Gaza infrastructure, which was already low due to years of blockade, works now at less than 30 percent efficiency. According to UN estimates, at least 2,600 Palestinians have been killed since May 2025 when they were trying to receive food and medical supplies. These fatalities frequently happen in areas of distribution or close to border areas, revealing the fatal overlap of military action and limited humanitarian access.
Aids convoys have been blocked or even attacked in the name of ceasefire many times. The continuation of the blockade is being explained by international observers as a weaponization of deprivation, to which the art of control over supplies acts as a continuation of the war. This food, fuel and medical supplies shortage has pushed Gaza to the verge of famine, which increases the civilian suffering that ceasefire agreements are supposed to reduce.
Legal and political repercussions
In mid 2025, the international criminal court reinstated warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of possible crimes against humanity and the war crimes committed between 2023 and 2024. The revitalized ICC actions were based on growing evidence provided by humanitarian organizations of Israel practicing siege warfare and forced displacement campaigns in line with the collective punishment patterns.
Repeated violation of ceasefire may lead to independent violations of the international humanitarian law which the United Nations Human Rights Council warns. Legal experts emphasize that this entails intentional aim at civilians and aid facilities which not only discredits the Geneva Convention, but also the effectiveness of the very idea of ceasefire diplomacy. The international monitors have verified the claims by Israeli officials that most casualties are militants, despite the fact that the Israeli officials have insisted that the majority of the casualties fall into this category.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem have increased calls to issue sanctions claiming that without actual accountability the vicious cycle of violence will continue. The issue of enforcement be it by judicial, diplomatic or economic means is one of the core issues of the developing debate on the legal obligations of Israel in Gaza.
Shifting diplomatic landscape
The Gaza ceasefire has deteriorated, which is why it has transformed the diplomatic calculation in the Middle East and elsewhere. European governments have started mounting pressure on tightening of oversight mechanisms and historical thereof making arms embargoes demands, albeit at first cautiously. At the same time, the stance of Washington is also divided into requests of humanitarian aid and long-standing strategic relations with Israel.
Other regional players like Egypt and Jordan that assisted in brokering the 2025 truce are once again under pressure to facilitate a new deal that contains verifiable monitoring. However, as the spirit of mistrust has set in and the intensity of civilian misery continues to rise, the foreign policy arena in which a compromise can be achieved is shrinking away. The leaders of the local authorities and civil societies in Palestine reiterate that any new ceasefire should have binding measures to protect the noncombatants, since unless civilians enjoy the benefits of protection, no peace can exist.
Life under an unstable truce
The word ceasefire no longer has much of its meaning to ordinary Gazans. According to the descriptions of the residents, the unpredictability and anxiety between the bombardments are unforeseeable. Physicians at Al-Shifa Hospital memories of treating blast injury victims even during official truces and humanitarian aid agencies report that there are still power outages and medical supply blockades. The net effect is a shared feeling of disappointment where a promise of peace constantly remains put on hold.
In September 2025, in an interview with international journalists, one of the teachers at Deir al-Balah summed up the general mood: They claim there is a ceasefire, yet we have been burying our children every week. These testimonies highlight how disconnected the rhetoric of diplomacy and everyday experience is, that short interruptions are of little help in mitigating the structural violence of everyday life.
The erosion of trust and resilience
The frequent collapsing of ceasefires has undermined the confidence people have in the local and international mediation. The community organizations that tried to organize the restructuring of the community say that they face extreme difficulties when new waves of strikes set back months of effort. NGOs find it hard to conduct their activities with regularity due to bureaucratic limitations and security threats.
Social resilience, once a hallmark of Gaza’s endurance, now strains under cumulative loss. Displacement figures exceed two million, with families relocating multiple times within a single year. Schools double as shelters, and hospitals operate without electricity for days. The psychological toll of this instability especially on children underscores how ceasefire breaches extend their harm beyond immediate casualties, reshaping entire generations’ sense of normalcy and hope.
Uncertain road ahead for peace and justice
The continuity of violence within the 2025 ceasefire arrangement is an example of how the gap between the official signatures and the real situation on the ground is very deep. Although international law offers avenues of accountability, their use relies on long-term political goodwill which is mostly an exception. The resumes of military activities by the Israeli government in Gaza reflect how vulnerable external pressure can be in the lack of imposing consequences.
The question is how to turn the denunciation into real safety, as the region is facing another winter of displacement and hunger. The future of not only Gaza, but the entire international system will depend on whether the next stage of diplomacy will be able to help fill the growing divide between words and action.
Following the same pattern of ceasefire failures, the question that is left before the policy makers is not how to end the violence but how to restore the same principles that were to curb the violence. The righteousness war in Gaza, to be put to the test by periods of struggle and ceasefire, will remain the moral and political environment of 2025, the result of which will draw the lines of peace in the region over several years