Gaza ceasefire anniversary shows expanded Israeli control and stalled reconstruction across reporting

Full analysis

One year after the October 10, 2025, ceasefire took effect, the agreement has produced a narrow set of outcomes while leaving the core terms unfulfilled. The deal, reached under the Trump administration after earlier negotiations involving the Biden team, ended major military operations between Israel and Hamas. It secured the release of the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages held since the October 7, 2023, attacks. Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel, and a US-led monitoring command post was established near the border. In exchange, the plan called for phased Israeli withdrawals to roughly 50 percent of Gaza, the handover of administration to a Palestinian technocratic body, Hamas disarmament linked to those withdrawals, an international stabilization force, and the start of reconstruction funded in part by a new Board of Peace chaired by Trump.

None of those later steps advanced in the year that followed. Israeli forces carried out near-daily strikes that killed about 1,450 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry whose figures the United Nations regards as accurate. The ministry’s count appears in reporting from Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera, Hurriyet Daily News, Arab News, and Middle East Eye. Israel now controls roughly 70 percent of the territory rather than the 53 percent permitted under the original terms, a shift documented in official accounts cited by Al-Monitor, Hurriyet, and Al Jazeera. Hamas dissolved its governing body in July and announced it would hand administration to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza led by Ali Shaath, yet the committee operates from Cairo because Israel has not allowed it entry. Hamas has not surrendered its weapons, and Israel has rejected any phased linkage between disarmament and withdrawal. No stabilization force has deployed. Reconstruction remains at the planning stage despite a September Board of Peace proposal for $2.45 billion in projects and earlier pledges totaling billions more. Aid flows at roughly 227 trucks per day instead of the 600 envisioned, with many basic items blocked as dual-use. Most of Gaza’s more than two million residents remain displaced in tents or damaged buildings.

The standoff centers on sequencing. Israel insists on complete Hamas disarmament before any further withdrawals, a position Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restated over the summer while rejecting the phased approach Trump had announced. Hamas has conditioned disarmament on Israeli withdrawals and an end to strikes. Netanyahu’s stance has hardened ahead of Israel’s October 27 elections, where he faces pressure from his nationalist base over security failures preceding the 2023 attacks. The Board of Peace, which includes former British prime minister Tony Blair and Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, has held summits and issued recovery plans but produced no visible rebuilding on the ground. Analysts quoted in Al Jazeera described the board as having failed to enforce its own plan or prevent continued attacks.

Reporting from the five outlets reaches the same conclusions on these core shortfalls through independent chains. Al-Monitor carries an Agence France-Presse account that tallies each original pledge against current conditions. Hurriyet relays Anadolu Agency material that adds the context of upcoming Israeli elections and potential delays until early 2027. Arab News carries an Associated Press dispatch that includes direct quotes from displaced Gazans describing the ceasefire as “ink on paper” and expressing dashed hopes for aid and an end to assassinations. Al Jazeera draws on its own reporting plus expert commentary to assess the Board of Peace’s record, noting that the body has sidelined UNRWA and that no country appears willing to challenge the United States on implementation. Middle East Eye, in a live-blog format, records fresh strikes on the anniversary itself, including eight deaths reported by Al Jazeera.

The coverage diverges mainly in emphasis rather than fact. Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye place greater weight on the human cost and the Board of Peace’s diplomatic shortcomings, citing analysts who describe ongoing displacement and what one called ethnic cleansing. Al-Monitor and Hurriyet focus on the checklist of unmet pledges and the political calendar in Israel. Arab News foregrounds Palestinian testimony alongside Netanyahu’s friction with Trump. None of the selected sources presents a narrative of meaningful progress; all describe a stalled process that has left reconstruction and governance in limbo. The source set contains no outlet from Palestinian territory, so the available accounts reflect external framings of the anniversary rather than voices from within Gaza or the West Bank.