The fate of over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and living amid ruins, remains uncertain as Israel's genocidal war marked 1,000 days since it was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion.
Israeli forces, which launched multiple wars in the region since, control over half of the Palestinian territory under the cease-fire that took effect on Oct. 10, but Israel's government has expanded that and says it aims to hold 70%.
The Hamas incursion into southern Israel caused around 1,200 deaths and took 251 hostages. All hostages or their remains have been released or handed over.
Israel’s genocidal retaliation, however, has killed a total of 73,066 Palestinians as of Tuesday, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. Despite the cease-fire, few people can get in or out of Gaza. Further cease-fire steps, including Hamas' disarmament and the immense task of reconstruction, have stalled.
"Much more needs to be done so that even a semblance of normality can come back, and we are far, far away from this,” the International Committee of the Red Cross regional director, Nicolas von Arx, said this week.
Israeli strikes have lessened considerably since the cease-fire took effect, but they continue almost daily.
Gaza’s Health Ministry counted 1,053 Palestinians dead since the cease-fire as of Tuesday, including over 350 women and children. In recent days, they included a teenage girl on her way to school and a mother with her 1-year-old daughter.
"Where is this cease-fire they keep talking about?! Shame on them,” one Palestinian, Wisal Abu Khater, said this week after another deadly strike, lashing out at neighboring Arab countries. She said they have failed Gaza's people and are busy watching World Cup games instead.
The United Nations Wednesday warned that the Israeli expansion in Gaza increases deadly risks for civilians in "areas lacking clear demarcation on the ground."
Cease-fire deal stalled
The Health Ministry said over 3,400 people have been wounded since the cease-fire. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It says women and children make up roughly half the dead.
Israel’s military claims it targets Hamas and other groups, often asserting they were planning attacks and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
The top diplomat overseeing the cease-fire, Nickolay Mladenov, has made it clear: The next steps in implementing the U.S.-brokered deal are stalled over the difficult issue of Hamas disarming.
This has been a high-profile test of the Board of Peace created and led by U.S. President Donald Trump. Launched with fanfare and billions of dollars in international pledges earlier this year with the sole aim of Gaza’s recovery from war, the board now says little publicly.
Hamas' disarmament would open the way for other steps, including a new administration of Gaza and the deployment of an international stabilization force to assist with security and reconstruction efforts.
While Hamas hasn’t outright rejected disarming, it has indicated it wants to hold on to some weapons and demanded further concessions from Israel.
Israelis, meanwhile, over the past 1,000 days have been traumatized by the Oct. 7 incursion and other conflicts that followed: against Iran and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Israelis marked the anniversary on Thursday in several spots across the country, including at the scene of a music festival where at least 364 people died and 40 were taken hostage. Other people marked it at bomb shelters along the roads in the south, where their relatives were killed as they tried to flee.
Dozens of protesters gathered near the Israeli parliament, demanding the government establish a state commission of inquiry into the incursion, which Netanyahu has tried to avoid.
These conflicts and their toll – including mounting deaths of Israeli soldiers, continuing attacks along Israel's border with Lebanon and international charges of genocide in Gaza – are weighing on Israelis and the national mood as Netanyahu seeks reelection this fall.
Netanyahu has projected confidence, but he faces a tough challenge.
Near their limit
Over 60% of Israelis think he shouldn't run again, according to a poll by The Israel Democracy Institute published last month. Anger has been high over the security failures before Oct. 7, the lack of a state commission of inquiry to investigate them and unpopular exemptions from military service granted to Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox governing partners.
Palestinians in Gaza say they are near their limit. Sheltering in vast tent camps with basic, if any, utilities, or in the skeletons of bombed-out buildings, they continue to live amid the hum of Israeli drones and the daily threat of strikes.
The cease-fire was meant to bring a surge in humanitarian aid, such as medicines and fuel. Aid groups and others say that has not happened. All of Gaza’s border crossings remain tightly restricted and at times they have closed completely. The U.N. last month said 17 hospitals are still not functional.
"Cumbersome" Israeli approvals and customs procedures limit crucial supplies, U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said last month, adding that even prosthetic limbs have been affected by concerns about having a potential "dual" use as weapons.
Famine was declared in Gaza City last August, but food security experts later said there were "notable improvements" after the cease-fire. The Israeli military body responsible for coordinating civilian affairs in Gaza, COGAT, said Wednesday that "the quantities of food that are being brought in far exceed the nutritional needs of the Gazan civilian population."
With Israeli forces expanding in Gaza and continuous attacks, people say they are stressed and exhausted.
"We had everything before the war,” said Mahmoud Ashour, a 33-year-old shop owner in Khan Younis. ”And now we’re just craving a bite to eat."
