A real ceasefire would mean opening borders, rebuilding what was destroyed, and restoring life. But this doesn't happen.
Khan Younis, Gaza, November 30, 2025
(Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)
When the bombs stopped falling endlessly on the Gaza Strip, the silence that followed for several days seemed unnatural. We were not used to this after two years of waking up to the sounds of bombing and sleeping under its shadow.
After two years of genocide, the American president's agreement did not completely end the suffering, although it did stop some of it. Since the truce came into force on October 11, at least 357 people were killedand more than 900 people were injured, mostly as a result of Israeli bombs. The world calls it “peace”, but in reality “peace” here does not mean the end of anything; hunger, fear and death remain while the occupation continues to strangle Gaza through border crossings, restrictions and deliberate obstacles to reconstruction.
Following the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops under the agreement, some coordination of humanitarian relief efforts is no longer required. And yet Israel still in control transitions, convoy movements and speed of assistance. Every truck, every patient transport and every piece of construction equipment still requires Israeli approval. This suffocating blockage makes long-term recovery impossible. Aid teams are unable to recover bodies or clear the rubble due to a severe shortage of heavy and specialized equipment.
Meanwhile, as Israel closes checkpoints and threatens renewed massacres, the Palestinian Civil Defense assessments that about 10,000 bodies remain under the rubble. Families have been denied the opportunity to say goodbye or bury their loved ones in proper cemeteries while the media and the world turn a blind eye.
Since the ceasefire, many have returned to areas they once called home. Some returned home without knowing whether they were within the so-called “Yellow Line” – areas controlled by the Israeli army, covering the area around 58 percent Gaza after the ceasefire. Others found their homes destroyed and decided to remain in the south, still living in ramshackle tents that offered little protection from the cold or rain.
After the last wave of evacuation, many residents moved to Gaza City and northern regions. About 500,000 people were seen moving from south to north, either to visit or as displaced persons returning to their homes.
I was one of them. As I drove north, the only thing I saw on Al-Rashid Street were ruins. I went with some of my colleagues from We are not numbers clean up our partially damaged office. We focused on the sea so as not to see the destruction.
Current number
According to World Food ProgramConditions in the southern regions remain extremely difficult, and access to food and clean water remains severely limited. The tents in which so many people live are no longer “temporary shelter.” The Israeli occupation is blocking even the delivery of prefabricated structures or equipment to clear the rubble. Most displaced families rely entirely on aid, which arrives too slowly to meet needs.
Since October 10, only about 150 trucks carrying commercial goods and humanitarian aid have been allowed into Gaza per day – just 24 percent of the 600 trucks agreed to as part of the truce. (Representative of the aid agency UNRWA told reporters on Tuesday that Israel is blocking at least 6,000 aid trucks from entering Gaza). unsuitable for large vehicles, whose narrow roads and heavy congestion cause further delays. Prices for materials such as gas and some types of wood have skyrocketed.
Israel views humanitarian aid as a tool, not a right. Aid arrives in fragments, with delays, sometimes expires or is spoiled. All this has led to the fact that prices for such staple foods as vegetables, meat and chicken have become extremely high. Even if prices have not reached the exorbitant levels seen before the ceasefire, they remain unaffordable for the average Gazan who has had no job opportunities for nearly two years and has virtually no income. Most of the trucks arriving during this period contained chocolates and snacks rather than essentials for patients and the elderly, such as eggs and large quantities of frozen foods and vegetables, which could have helped bring prices down significantly.
For many, the ceasefire did not bring relief, but it demonstrated the cruelty of leaving people alone with their fate. Many now feel that this suffering is their destiny and not a reality that will soon change. Patients and prisoners suffered the most; the health crisis is no less tragic. According to the World Health OrganizationMore than 16,500 people, including thousands of children, are in urgent need of medical care that is not available in Gaza. And yet the first medical evacuation after the ceasefire was declared included a total of 41 patients and 145 accompanying persons. Thousands of wounded people remain untreated, hospitals are overcrowded, and many institutions operate without electricity, sewage systems or sufficient supplies of medicine.
Medical staff in the Gaza Strip are exhausted after two full years of working day and night. Shortages of specialties such as neurology and orthopedics are forcing hospitals to try to preserve lives until evacuations can provide adequate treatment. The health sector is balancing between who gets care and evacuation and who must wait – or die. The one who decides who survives: Israel.
More than 9,100 Palestinians are still in Israeli prisons, including 400 minors and 52 women. Their families in Gaza and the West Bank often have no idea where they are or whether they are alive. Israel calls them “security prisoners,” but to their families, they are sons, daughters and parents—their only crime is being Palestinian.
The system that is holding them is the same system that is holding all of Gaza hostage. Even after the guns fall silent, the occupation continues – over the borders, over most of the sector, over hope. Gaza remains a prison without walls.
The truth is simple: Gaza was denied the right to healing. Ruins remain, patients continue to suffer, prisoners have not returned home, and the occupation's grip tightens even in “times of peace.” A real ceasefire would mean opening borders, rebuilding what was destroyed, and restoring life. But this doesn't happen. What we see is planned stagnation – punishment disguised as calm.
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Almost two months after the ceasefire, Gaza remains in limbo. I'm waiting for help. We are waiting for news from the prisoners. Waiting for the world to see that the genocide has not ended, but has only changed its form, becoming quieter: genocide without explosions and headlines. Genocide is the dream of the Palestinians, their ability to survive and rebuild on their own land.
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