Every Day There Is Killing: Gazans Confront Israeli Strikes Despite Ceasefire
In her tent in central Gaza early one morning last month, 31‑year‑old Fida al‑Toutah, a mother of five, was combing her daughter’s hair when the sound of gunfire erupted.
"My mother shouted at us to get down," her son Ezz recalled, weeping as he spoke. He only realised Fida had been hit when he saw the bloodied hands of his younger brother, who had been clinging onto his mother as the bullets came in.
"Our mother was so kind and generous. What did she do wrong?" Ezz said.
Fida died on 21 September from a gunshot wound to the head. She is among more than 1,400 people in Gaza who have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the ceasefire on 10 October last year, according to Gaza's Hamas‑run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
The ceasefire led to the release of thousands of Palestinians held by Israel in exchange for all of the 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, and an agreement to end the war – a conflict triggered by the Hamas‑led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
On the ground in Gaza, it meant that Israel’s large‑scale bombardment stopped, which brought substantial relief and an increase in humanitarian aid and medical supplies entering the territory. But even during the ceasefire, Israel has continued launching strikes almost every day. In the past week alone more than 30 people have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas operatives, and accuses Hamas of continued violations of the ceasefire. "It [the ceasefire] is all lies. Every day there’s a shooting. Every day there is killing and death lurking around," said Ahed, Fida’s husband.
In response to the BBC’s questions about Fida’s killing, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had no record of the incident. The total death toll from Israeli attacks since the start of the war in Gaza three years ago is now more than 74,000, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The family’s tent had holes made by a volley of bullets fired by Israeli forces. "This tent is just a piece of cloth. Imagine that a military vehicle came down here and fired a spray of bullets," Ibrahim, Fida’s brother, told us. "There was also gunfire coming from the sky, from above, from quadcopters, and it was directed at unarmed civilians."
Fida is the fourth of Ibrahim’s siblings to be killed since the war began. "We left our neighbourhood Zeitoun to survive, but death is following us," he said. The family has moved seven times but safety has been out of reach. Most of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been displaced multiple times, the UN says, with many forced to live in tented cities and unsafe structures.
On the same day that Fida was killed, 14‑year‑old Ismail al‑Bardawil was also shot dead in the al‑Mawasi area of Rafah, in southern Gaza. He was killed while he and his brothers were fishing in the Mediterranean Sea, around 20 m from the shore. He is one of more than 300 children killed since the start of the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The IDF said it had no information about this incident either.
Both Fida and Ismail lived close to the so‑called Yellow Line that separates areas occupied by the Israeli military in Gaza from those controlled by Hamas in the west. Areas around the line are considered the most dangerous because Israeli forces often open fire there, but there are few options to move because of an extreme shortage of space. The strip was densely populated before the war; now, its population is squeezed into under 40% of its area controlled by Hamas.
Architect Amal Alabadla, who lived in a comfortable flat before the war, now lives in a tent on the coastline. "Every time the rains come, it gets flooded. I feel very scared when the wind is strong because our tent gets destroyed or damaged," she said. Amal is forced to raise her two boys – Mohammed and Noah – on her own. Her husband was not in Gaza when the war broke out, and in three years they have not been reunited. Amal’s three brothers, who helped her care for the boys, were killed in separate attacks before the ceasefire began.
"During the winter, my son suffers from epilepsy seizures because of the cold. It’s very hard sometimes to keep him dry and warm," Amal explained. "Before the war, I had a job, a house, an ordinary life, but then everything turned upside down. Now we have no hope, nothing. It’s only about survival day by day, to keep my kids alive, clean, healthy and fed."
The October 2025 peace deal was supposed to pave the way for reconstruction in Gaza, but rebuilding has not yet begun – stuck in limbo because of an impasse over the second phase of the deal. Israel strictly controls what materials and machinery are allowed into Gaza, citing its own security concerns. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump put forward a plan to disarm Hamas, but in August it was rejected by Netanyahu, who stated that no military pull‑out would happen until Hamas was "genuinely" disarmed. Hamas has said handing over its heavy weapons is contingent on Israel ending "all forms of aggression" and withdrawing its forces from Gaza.
Half a world away, Trump’s Board of Peace has also proposed a recovery plan for Gaza worth $2.45bn (£1.85bn). But one year on from the ceasefire and three years on from the start of the war, many like Amal are deeply sceptical about real change on the ground. "We are struggling and not being allowed to rebuild," she said. "I don’t think they are telling us the truth about allowing us to rebuild a safe future for our children."
