A Year After the Gaza Ceasefire, More Than 100 Aid and Rights Groups Say It Exists in Name Only

More than 18,500 patients need medical evacuation, at least 4,000 of them children, and over 1,000 have died while waiting, the groups say. They also accuse the Israeli military of moving the so-called Yellow Line further into Gaza than the withdrawal line in the agreement, squeezing Palestinians into a smaller area. Inger Ashing of Save the Children said nearly one child has been killed per day since the ceasefire was announced, and Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council called the lack of improvement "utterly shameful".

How many people have been killed or wounded?

Gaza's health ministry, which Hamas runs, has recorded 1,471 people killed and 5,189 wounded since the ceasefire, including four killed and 28 wounded in the previous 24 hours, Al Jazeera reported. The aid agency Islamic Relief estimates that an Israeli attack has killed or wounded a Palestinian in Gaza every 90 minutes on average since the truce began, and one of its aid workers in Gaza told the outlet: "There is no ceasefire in reality." The same report put the overall death toll since October 2023 at at least 74,254.

What does the United Nations say?

Tom Fletcher, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, told RTE's Morning Ireland that life in Gaza "remains absolutely horrendous", according to RTE. More than 90 percent of people are still without homes and live in temporary shelters, he said, and about three quarters rely on trucked water and live near sewage lakes.

He pointed to some progress: the UN is providing about a million hot meals a day and has returned 100,000 children to school. But the organisation has only one functioning crossing, which he called not enough, funding is falling, and he wants rubble-clearing equipment let in and journalists allowed into Gaza.

What does Israel say?

RTE reported that Israel says it blocks items that could have military use and accuses Hamas of plotting new attacks. The groups, for their part, call on governments that backed the agreement to press for aid that flows without obstruction before winter. Al Jazeera reported that Israel continues to block shelter materials, fuel and medical supplies.

The anniversary comes as EU development ministers meet at Dublin Castle under Ireland's presidency of the Union. Whether that meeting produces anything more than statements will be the first test of the groups' demand.