It seems we have somewhat forgotten Gaza, haven’t we? Yet, what has unfolded in Gaza since the cease-fire came into effect at noon on Oct. 10 demonstrates with painful clarity that international law remains nothing more than ink on paper.
Data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health shows that during the cease-fire period, at least 242 Palestinians were killed and 622 were wounded. These losses are not ordinary statistics; we are talking about an attack on Oct. 29 in which 52 children were killed in a single day, and a bombardment on Oct. 19 that claimed 45 lives. In other words, during a period described as a “cease-fire,” the meaning of the term has been entirely inverted.
Another reality accompanying this picture is one as devastating as the bombardments: the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid. As you know, the core provision of the cease-fire required uninterrupted humanitarian access into Gaza. Yet, the opposite happened on the ground. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees In the Near East (UNRWA), the U.N.’s largest agency working with Palestinians, publicly stated that Israel prevented the entry of vital supplies stockpiled in warehouses. Fuel, tents, medicine, infant formula, hygiene kits... all were kept waiting at border crossings.
For hundreds of thousands of people left roofless in the rain, this obstruction became a silent weapon. Deprivation, too, is a means of killing, and there is no difference between a child shivering from cold and one dying under an airstrike, except the method.
When the sharp spikes in the graph are combined with the obstruction of humanitarian aid, it becomes evident that Israel is executing not only a military operation but also a systematic strategy of non-sustenance. For this reason, the massacre of Oct. 29 is not merely an event of war; it is a flagrant violation of international law, particularly the obligations of a cease-fire. And yet the world’s major powers continue to speak with twisted tongues: “There may have been a violation,” “An investigation may be needed,” “We are concerned.” But the reality on the ground is unmistakably clear: We can see with our own eyes the children waiting without blankets in the rain.
As the moral authority of the international community collapses, Gaza’s losses during the so-called cease-fire prove a single truth: A nominal halt does not create a real pause. While the bombardments continue and humanitarian aid is blocked, the war is merely being carried on through other means.
What is unfolding in Gaza today is not just a breach of a cease-fire; it is the collapse of humanitarian values. And beneath this collapse, what echoes most loudly are the trembling cries of Gazan children: abandoned, helpless, freezing, left without aid. This reality still stands above all reports and all calculations of diplomatic balance.
