One Year After the Gaza Ceasefire, Reconstruction Has Barely Begun

One year after the ceasefire that paused the Gaza war, the truce holds in name while reconstruction has barely started and the disarmament of Hamas remains unresolved.

The ceasefire took effect Oct. 10, 2025, followed by a summit Oct. 13 that created President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. This week the State Department marked the anniversary, saying a durable ceasefire, the return of hostages living and dead, a Palestinian technocratic administration and a costed recovery plan had been achieved.

The Board of Peace cites $18 billion in pledges, and the European Union has mobilized a $1 billion early-recovery package channeled through U.N. agencies, according to reports on the anniversary.

But Human Rights Watch said this week that reconstruction has not yet begun, aid volumes remain far below required levels and Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,400 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

“The outside world may be under a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal, but reality tells a very different story,” said Sarah Sanbar, the group’s acting Israel and Palestine researcher.

Israeli forces now hold about 60 percent of the Strip, up from roughly 50 percent envisioned in the plan, and only about 227 aid trucks enter daily against a target of 600, analysts said.

Hamas disarmament, Israeli withdrawal and the future administration of Gaza remain deadlocked, and the planned international stabilization force has not deployed, according to the Associated Press.

In Philadelphia, Jewish and Palestinian-American groups have marked the war’s milestones throughout the year, and the anniversary is drawing renewed attention to the stalled recovery.