As Gaza marks 1,000 days since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israelis and Palestinians remain trapped in a cycle of grief and uncertainty. Israeli strikes have eased but continue nearly daily, aid and hospital access lag behind ceasefire promise
By the time the calendar reached 1,000 days, the ceasefire still wasn’t enough to let Gaza breathe.
The war began with the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and it has left more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza—largely displaced, living amid ruins—facing an uncertain future. Ceasefire steps that were supposed to open the door to relief have stalled. and Israeli forces still control more than half of the territory. with Israel’s government expanding its control and saying it aims to hold 70%.
Even when the explosions quiet down, the pressure doesn’t. Israeli strikes have decreased considerably since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, but they continue almost daily.
Gaza’s Health Ministry counted 1,053 Palestinians dead since the ceasefire as of Tuesday, including over 350 women and children. In recent days, its tally included a teenage girl on her way to school and a mother with her 1-year-old daughter.
“Where is this ceasefire they keep talking about?! Shame on them,” Palestinian resident Wisal Abu Khater said this week after another deadly strike, lashing out at Arabs she accused of failing Gaza’s people while watching World Cup games.
The United Nations warned Wednesday that Israel’s expansion in Gaza increases deadly risks for civilians in “areas lacking clear demarcation on the ground.”
The Health Ministry also said more than 3,400 people have been wounded since the ceasefire. It is part of the Hamas-led government and maintains detailed casualty records that U.N. agencies and independent experts generally view as reliable. The ministry does not break down civilians and militants. but it says women and children make up roughly half the dead.
Israel’s military says it targets Hamas and other militants, often asserting they were planning attacks, and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
The personal losses of this war are now part of its arithmetic. After the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. All hostages or their remains have since been freed or handed over, with some recounting abuses. Israel’s retaliation has killed a total of 73,066 Palestinians as of Tuesday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
A ceasefire that was supposed to make room for something normal has, instead, become a reason people feel trapped.
Much of the stalemate centers on disarmament—the next steps in implementing the U.S.-brokered deal are stalled over the difficult issue of Hamas disarming. the top diplomat overseeing the ceasefire. Nickolay Mladenov. has made clear. The Board of Peace, created and led by U.S. President Donald Trump. was launched with fanfare and billions of dollars in international pledges earlier this year with the sole aim of Gaza’s recovery from war. Now, the board says little publicly.
Hamas disarmament would open the way for other steps. including new administration of Gaza and the deployment of an international stabilization force to assist with security and reconstruction efforts. Hamas has not outright rejected disarming. but it has indicated it wants to hold on to some weapons and demanded further concessions from Israel.
For Gazans, the days don’t just count the dead—they count the barriers. Palestinians 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 live amid the hum of Israeli drones and the daily threat of strikes.
The ceasefire was meant to bring a surge in humanitarian aid such as medicines and fuel. Aid groups and others say it hasn’t happened. All of Gaza’s border crossings remain tightly restricted, and at times they have closed completely. The United Nations 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. Fletcher added 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 ceasefire. 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.”.
Beyond the food and medicine, people say fear and repression have become part of daily survival. With Israeli forces expanding in Gaza. and Hamas militants accused of illegally executing Palestinians for alleged collaboration with Israel or crimes like looting. people report being 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.”
That sense of waiting—without relief arriving—sits alongside the political pressure building elsewhere.
Over the 1,000 days, Israelis have been traumatized by the Oct. 7 attack. the deadliest in Israel’s history. and by other conflicts that followed: fighting against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. and Iran itself. None of these fronts has completely calmed.
Iran’s armed proxies attacked Israel, saying they acted in solidarity with Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Trump to jointly attack Iran on Feb. 28. That move revived conflict in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have advanced to their deepest point in over a quarter-century.
Those wars—along with mounting deaths for Israeli soldiers and continuing attacks along Israel’s border with Lebanon—are weighing on Israelis as Netanyahu seeks reelection this fall. International allegations of genocide in Gaza are part of the backdrop too; Israel rejects them.
Netanyahu has projected confidence, but his political position is tense. 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 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.
For Gaza, the truce has not delivered the kind of change that would let people plan beyond the next strike.
And for both sides, the arithmetic of the last 1,000 days keeps pointing in the same direction: the ceasefire may have reduced some damage, but it hasn’t stopped the fight—nor the uncertainty about what comes next.
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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
Gaza 1000 days Israel-Hamas war ceasefire Oct. 10 humanitarian aid Nickolay Mladenov Board of Peace Hamas disarmament Gaza Health Ministry UN warning Tom Fletcher COGAT Benjamin Netanyahu
1000 days is crazy… can someone please just stop it already.
I don’t get how the ceasefire is “easing” if it’s still nearly daily. Like what are we even calling ceasefire then? Also the aid/hospitals stuff always feels like it never actually arrives.
Wait, so Israel controls more than half but they’re saying they want to hold 70%? That math is wild. I’m not saying either side is innocent, but seems like the “ceasefire” is just marketing while they take more land. Then people act surprised when nothing improves.
My cousin posted about this like a week ago and said it was already over, so idk. It’s just heartbreaking seeing “women and children” numbers… like how is that still happening after 1000 days? And the part about hospital access lagging—sounds like paperwork problems or something, but meanwhile people are dying. I just wish they’d all pick a lane and let the basic stuff in.