Jerusalem (AFP) – One year after US President Donald Trump declared the war in Gaza to be over, few of the long-term promises of the ceasefire have come to fruition.
Issued on: 10/10/2026 - RFI
Here is a list of some of the key points of the October 10, 2025 ceasefire and where things stand:
Hostages released, calm in Israel
Three days after the agreement was announced, Hamas freed the 20 remaining living hostages seized during the group's October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest day in Israel's history.
The captives' return was a key priority for Israel, whose public had agonised over their fate.
The ceasefire anniversary also marks one year of quiet for Israel from the Gaza front, with no rocket attacks by Hamas.
The group's missile inventory was depleted by near-constant Israeli bombardment, which damaged or destroyed the vast majority of buildings in the Palestinian territory.
The US military set up a command post with foreign allies near the Gaza border to monitor the truce.
No Israeli withdrawal or let-up
Israel has reduced its level of attacks but has kept striking Gaza on a near-daily basis.
Israeli strikes have killed some 1,450 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas and whose figures are considered accurate by the United Nations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in a tight election race, has vowed to kill everyone involved in the October 7 attack.
Netanyahu said on the attack's anniversary that 4,000 out of 6,000 "Hamas monsters" had been killed.
Israel has reduced its level of attacks but has kept striking Gaza on a near-daily basis © Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP
Israeli forces were allowed to stay in 53 percent of Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire, but a year later they control about 70 percent of it, according to official accounts.
Hamas remains, with weapons
The second phase of the agreement was supposed to include a political transition away from Hamas, and technocrat Ali Shaath was appointed head of a new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).
Hamas announced in July that it was disbanding its governing body and handing over Gaza's administration to the US-blessed NCAG.
But Hamas effectively remains in charge of security in Gaza, and Shaath has taken a low profile.
The Palestinian Islamist movement elected a new leader, Khalil al-Hayya, in July. Shortly afterwards, the group announced it would give up its weapons, a step hailed by Trump as a breakthrough.
But Israel has been sceptical, with Netanyahu demanding verifiable decommissioning of all weapons down to individual guns.
Hamas has not gone ahead with disarmament, and Israel has refused to reciprocate by starting to withdraw forces.
Reconstruction just talk
Trump set up a new global body for the deal dubbed the "Board of Peace", tapping as key figures former British prime minister Tony Blair and Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who serves as "Gaza high representative".
Trump, a critic of foreign aid, in January promised $10 billion in US funding to the board he controls, and Gulf allies have pledged more, but no money is known to have made its way to Gaza reconstruction.
In September, the board proposed a $2.45 billion Gaza recovery plan at a meeting of its members and stakeholders, in an effort meant to span over six months.
© 2026 AFP
Hunger and malnutrition stalk Gazans, a year on from ceasefire
Khan Yunis (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Every day, Gazan mother Niyaha al-Masri spends six exhausting hours or more queueing at a community kitchen in the hope of getting some food for her family.
Issued on: 10/10/2026 - RFI
Nihaya Al-Masri is struggling to feed her family of 10 people, who are surviving on one meal a day © Bashar Taleb / AFP
It has been a year since a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was supposed to allow food to flood into the ruined territory, yet widespread hunger persists there.
Masri has little choice. Without the kitchen run by humanitarian groups, she and her eight children would have "nothing at all", the 35-year-old told AFP.
Each day she sets out early in the morning and returns in the afternoon, this time bringing four containers of rice, lentils and a little chicken, which the family throws itself at.
Among them is her husband, wounded in both legs by an airstrike, meaning he "cannot go and fight with the others" to get food.
This will be the only meal of the day for the family of 10, living in a tent in Khan Yunis. There was no breakfast and they will have no dinner.
What little flour they have, Masri explained, has to be rationed.
In August 2025, a United Nations-backed body, the IPC, declared a state of famine in Gaza © Bashar Taleb / AFP
In August 2025, a United Nations-backed body, the IPC, declared a state of famine in Gaza, though Israel quickly denounced it as a lie.
By December, the UN had lifted that declaration, saying that the ceasefire had allowed in enough supplies over the course of two months to ease conditions.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry organisation responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, told AFP that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was stable.
But Shaun Hughes, of the UN's World Food Programme, was less sanguine.
The food security situation, he said, "is still extremely serious".
The most recent figures, from July, show that "1.4 million out of the population of about 2.1 million people are acutely food insecure", he said, with 200,000 of them "just one step below famine".
'Shameful'
While some food is getting in, a lack of sufficient nutritional variety continues to pose a health threat.
"Dietary diversity is a major food security issue in Gaza," said Hughes.
"You cannot survive on dry goods and wheat flour and bread alone. Particularly children, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, they need the micronutrients that come with high protein foods, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits," he explained.
In August 2025, a United Nations-backed body, the IPC, declared a state of famine in Gaza, though Israel quickly denounced it as a lie.
By December, the UN had lifted that declaration, saying that the ceasefire had allowed in enough supplies over the course of two months to ease conditions.
COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry organisation responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, told AFP that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was stable.
But Shaun Hughes, of the UN's World Food Programme, was less sanguine.
The food security situation, he said, "is still extremely serious".
The most recent figures, from July, show that "1.4 million out of the population of about 2.1 million people are acutely food insecure", he said, with 200,000 of them "just one step below famine".
'Shameful'
While some food is getting in, a lack of sufficient nutritional variety continues to pose a health threat.
"Dietary diversity is a major food security issue in Gaza," said Hughes.
"You cannot survive on dry goods and wheat flour and bread alone. Particularly children, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, they need the micronutrients that come with high protein foods, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits," he explained.
While some food is getting into Gaza, a lack of sufficient nutritional variety continues to pose a health threat © Bashar Taleb / AFP
Masri said that her children, aged between three and 14, "dream of eating fruit" but the family doesn't have the means to buy any.
She said one of her sons suffered from malnutrition during the 2025 famine, although "little by little, his condition is improving".
Malnutrition isn't only caused by a lack of food, but also essential nutrients. It weakens the immune system of children, making them vulnerable to illnesses and stunting their growth.
"Repeated bouts of acute malnutrition amongst children is something that human beings just don't recover from," said Hughes.
Cognitive and physical impairments "continue into later life", he added.
At Khan Yunis's Nasser hospital, the head of the malnutrition unit, Israa al-Najjar, told AFP she had "observed an increase in syndromes and conditions" linked to malnutrition that affect the immune system.
In a report published on Thursday, the day after the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war, Medecins du Monde published a study that found 93 percent of pregnant or breastfeeding women had symptoms of anaemia, which is closely linked to malnutrition.
Just 17 percent had a sufficiently varied diet to meet their nutritional needs, the group found.
All the while, Masri has kept visiting the community kitchen, despite asthma leaving her exhausted.
Her children spend their days collecting "pieces of nylon, bits of cardboard and chunks of foam" to try and reinforce their tent, which is in a poor state.
She said it was "shameful" that her children had to do so.
"I swear to God, this isn't normal."
© 2026 AFP
Masri said that her children, aged between three and 14, "dream of eating fruit" but the family doesn't have the means to buy any.
She said one of her sons suffered from malnutrition during the 2025 famine, although "little by little, his condition is improving".
Malnutrition isn't only caused by a lack of food, but also essential nutrients. It weakens the immune system of children, making them vulnerable to illnesses and stunting their growth.
"Repeated bouts of acute malnutrition amongst children is something that human beings just don't recover from," said Hughes.
Cognitive and physical impairments "continue into later life", he added.
At Khan Yunis's Nasser hospital, the head of the malnutrition unit, Israa al-Najjar, told AFP she had "observed an increase in syndromes and conditions" linked to malnutrition that affect the immune system.
In a report published on Thursday, the day after the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war, Medecins du Monde published a study that found 93 percent of pregnant or breastfeeding women had symptoms of anaemia, which is closely linked to malnutrition.
Just 17 percent had a sufficiently varied diet to meet their nutritional needs, the group found.
All the while, Masri has kept visiting the community kitchen, despite asthma leaving her exhausted.
Her children spend their days collecting "pieces of nylon, bits of cardboard and chunks of foam" to try and reinforce their tent, which is in a poor state.
She said it was "shameful" that her children had to do so.
"I swear to God, this isn't normal."
© 2026 AFP
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