Residents across Gaza say that Israeli military operations have not stopped, even though a formal ceasefire has been in place for weeks. On what should have been a period of calm, people in towns across the south and centre of the Strip instead woke on Thursday to renewed shelling, gunfire and the roar of aircraft. Local reporters describe the situation as a continuation of the devastating pattern that defined the genocidal war of the past two years, raising doubts about whether the truce has ever been meaningfully implemented.

Communities in and around Khan Younis reported incoming artillery rounds within areas previously designated as safe, while helicopters hovered low, firing repeatedly toward residential zones. Fishermen working off the coast said naval ships forced them back to shore with live fire, cutting off one of the few remaining sources of livelihood in the territory. Further south, in Rafah, residents recounted a series of airstrikes that hit the outskirts of the city, shaking already-damaged neighbourhoods and deepening anxieties among families who had hoped the ceasefire would bring relief.

The agreement announced on 10 October 2025 was intended to halt the violence after years of catastrophic military action that caused tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and left many more wounded. Yet the continuation of strikes has fuelled concern that the ceasefire exists only on paper. Aid workers warn that each new attack tightens the pressure on a population already traumatised, displaced and struggling to access food, medicine and basic shelter. As long as these operations persist, observers argue, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will only deepen.