After nearly two years of intense conflict, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has taken effect, giving beleaguered communities in Gaza a momentary reprieve and the desperate hope for recovery. But the challenges are immense, and the underlying tensions remain volatile.
As the ceasefire went into force, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began making their way back north toward their former homes-some for the first time in months. Many return not to houses but to rubble, debris, and landscapes scarred by bombardment. A
Drone footage released over Gaza City paints a bleak portrait: entire neighbourhoods razed, streets lined with twisted steel and collapsed concrete, vegetation wiped out, and massive piles of debris. Reconstruction experts estimate that over 61 million tons of rubble may need clearing-equivalent to more than 25 Eiffel Towers’ worth of material.
The United Nations Satellite Center reports that by late September, 83% of structures in Gaza City were damaged or destroyed. Meanwhile, the World Bank projects the cost of reconstruction to exceed US$50 billion.
Under the first phase of the peace deal, Israeli forces have begun a phased pullback from parts of Gaza, in line with the ceasefire terms. The agreement also includes provisions for hostage releases and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The deal is expected to ramp up humanitarian aid access-especially food aid-into Gaza, where nearly every resident is now experiencing food insecurity at crisis levels or worse. The World Food Programme and other agencies are poised to scale up deliveries, though their ability to reach people depends on safe corridors, ongoing military restraint, and logistical cooperation.
With the ceasefire now in place, international journalists and media outlets are renewing calls for unrestricted access into Gaza. Since October 2023, Israel has tightly controlled and limited foreign media’s entry, leaving much of the coverage to brave local Palestinian journalists who operate under life‑threatening conditions.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA) released a statement demanding that press freedom be respected and that borders into Gaza be opened for independent coverage. Over the two years of conflict, at least 197 journalists have been killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists-a number that underscores the extreme peril faced by media in the region.
- Total killed: Over 67,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
- Children killed: At least 20,000 children are among the dead. UNICEF reported in March 2024 that the number of children killed in Gaza in the first four months of the war exceeded the global total in conflicts between 2019 and 2022.
- Injured: More than 169,000 people have been injured.
- Missing: In early 2025, the UN reported at least 11,000 people were still missing, many feared to be under the rubble.
- Indirect deaths: An estimated tens of thousands of additional deaths have occurred from disease, malnutrition, and lack of medical care.
- Civilians vs. combatants: In August 2025, a report based on leaked Israeli military intelligence suggested that at least 83% of those killed were civilians, a ratio considered extremely high for modern warfare.
- October 7 attacks: The initial Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killed approximately 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
- Soldiers killed: As of October 2025, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reports that at least 913 of its soldiers have been killed since the war began.
- Hostages: In the initial attack, about 250 people were taken hostage into Gaza. As of October 2025, Israeli officials estimate around 48 hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 people.
- Counting methodology: The Gaza Ministry of Health has faced challenges in gathering data amid the conflict, at times relying on partial data from functioning hospitals, online forms, and media reports.
- Transparency and verification: Israel has historically disputed the figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, although an Israeli military intelligence database used for internal briefings reportedly found the health ministry’s casualty numbers to be generally reliable.
- Undercounting: Several peer-reviewed studies published in medical journals like The Lancet suggest that the ministry’s figures, which primarily track direct traumatic deaths, likely represent an undercount of the total casualties.
- Indirect deaths: The death tolls do not account for thousands of indirect deaths from preventable diseases, malnutrition, and the collapse of the healthcare system.
