Gaza ceasefire frays after seven months

Human Rights Watch said on May 19 that Israeli forces continued killing civilians and restricting aid deliveries in Gaza more than seven months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025. The rights group said humanitarian access remained far below what the United Nations says is needed, even as the body overseeing the truce prepared to brief the U.N. (hrw.org) Security Council on May 21. A separate report seen by The Associated Press said that body, the Board of Peace, would ask the council to press Hamas to disarm. Together, the reports describe a ceasefire that has reduced full-scale war but not ended deadly attacks, aid shortages or the political deadlock over who will control Gaza. (newsday.com) ### How many people have been killed during the ceasefire? Human Rights Watch said at least 856 Palestinians had been killed and 2,463 wounded during the ceasefire period, citing Gaza Health Ministry figures. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said on April 10 that 738 Palestinians had been killed since the ceasefire took effect, based on Palestinian Health Ministry figures available at that time, and said Israeli attacks were continuing routinely across the territory. Volker Türk said victims included women, children, people with disabilities, a humanitarian contractor and a journalist. His office said Palestinians were being killed in homes, tents, streets, vehicles, a medical facility and a classroom, and that movement itself had become life-threatening in much of Gaza. (hrw.org) ### Why is aid still a central complaint? Human Rights Watch said aid volumes had risen from pre-ceasefire levels but remained well below minimum U.N. requirements and had fallen again after early 2026. The group said Israeli authorities closed all crossings into Gaza on February 28, 2026, at the start of Israeli-U.S. military operations against Iran, and that weekly truck entries dropped from about 4,200 to 590 in the following weeks. (hrw.org) The rights group said Kerem Shalom partially reopened on March 3 after reported U.S. pressure, and that Kerem Shalom and Zikim remained the only operational entry points for humanitarian and commercial goods. In the first 11 days of May, it said, only half of the aid trucks arriving from Egypt were allowed to unload at Israeli-controlled crossings. (ohchr.org) ### Why is Hamas disarmament now at the center of the talks? The Board of Peace report said “the principal obstacle to full implementation” of the ceasefire remained Hamas’ refusal to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control and permit a civilian transition in Gaza. The report said reconstruction could not begin where weapons had not been laid down. (hrw.org) Hamas rejected the report and said it contained “fallacies.” Nickolay Mladenov, the former U.N. envoy who heads the Board of Peace, said on May 13 that the deadlock over disarming Hamas had paralyzed reconstruction and held up Israeli troop withdrawals, a new technocratic Palestinian government and the deployment of an international security force. (hrw.org) He said Hamas’ obligation to give up its arsenal was “not negotiable,” while Hamas has linked any demilitarization to Israeli troop pullbacks. ### What does the ceasefire still provide if the plan is stalled? Nickolay Mladenov said the truce had “mostly held” and had staved off a return to full-scale war, even as his office dealt with violations by both sides on a daily basis. (newsday.com) Human Rights Watch said the ceasefire had pushed back famine risk only temporarily, and that the humanitarian infrastructure sustaining life in Gaza remained in peril. U.N. human rights officials said Israeli attacks had continued routinely across Gaza six months after the ceasefire announcement. Human Rights Watch said eight aid workers had been killed since the truce began and cited U.N. figures showing 593 aid-worker deaths in Gaza since October 2023 by late April. (pbs.org) ### What happens next at the United Nations? The Board of Peace is due to present its six-month progress report to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, May 21. The report is expected to ask council members to press Hamas to disarm as a condition for moving ahead with reconstruction, Israeli withdrawal, a new Palestinian administration and an international security presence in Gaza. (pbs.org) (hrw.org)