Yearender 2025: No End To Human Suffering In Gaza As Israel Continues To Kill Despite 'Ceasefire'
The year 2025 saw United Nations officially accepting that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Published : December 22, 2025 at 4:12 PM IST
By Irshad Khan
For Palestinians, 2025 was no different, as the year saw Israel furthering its genocide in the besieged Gaza strip. While in October, a "ceasefire" was declared in the region based on the US President Donald Trump's 'peace plan', Israel was accused of violating it multiple times and killing hundreds of civilians despite the 'truce'.
The human casualty figures continued to pile up as waves after waves of air and ground assault by Israel killed Gazans in hordes, and turned the place into what now looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
According to UNRWA figures based on Gaza's Health Ministry, between October 7, 2023, and December 10, 2025, 70,369 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and another 170,999 were injured. Around 20,000 of those killed were children. Among those injured, the majority suffered life-altering wounds. UNICEF estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 children lost one or more limbs.
Israel Has Committed Genocide In Gaza: UN Commission OF Inquiry
The year also saw United Nations officially accepting that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a report published in September that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The Commission urged Israel and all States to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible for it. The Commission said it had been investigating the events on and since 7 October 2023 for the last two years, and concluded that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
"Explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities and the pattern of conduct of the Israeli security forces indicate that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group," the Commission said.
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
The Oct 7, 2023 Flare-Up In Decades-Long Conflict
The Israel-Palestine conflict, which dates back to the post-World War II, saw its latest flare-up on October 7, 2023 when Hamas launched attacks in Israel killing over 1,000 people and taking around 251 others captive. The subsequent military offensive by the Israeli military left thousands dead, the majority of them women and children.
Like in 2024, the civilian killings in Israeli airstrikes and ground military offensive continued in 2025. In January, the International Court Of Justice(ICJ) hearing a case by South Africa, ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. South Africa was joined by other countries including Turkiye, Mexico, Brazil, Spain and Ireland in the case against Israel.
Food Shortage And Starvation
In October this year, Gaza's health ministry said that 461 people, including 157 children, died from complications related to malnutrition since the war started on October 7, 2023. According to the ministry, most deaths were reported in 2025. It said that hospitals were overwhelmed with malnourished children, amid a severe shortage of therapeutic foods.
The same month, a report in the Lancet medical journal said that more than 54,600 children younger than 5 in Gaza may be acutely malnourished, with more than 12,800 severely affected. The study screened nearly 220,000 children from dozens of health centers and medical sites in Gaza between January 2024 and mid-August, 2025.
Reports said that Israel's restrictions of food and aid into Gaza and a relentless military offensive were causing starvation, particularly among children and pregnant women and driving the death toll in the war-torn region.
Seizure Of Aid Flotilla And Detention Of Activist Greta Thunberg
Amid the ongoing genocide by Israel in Gaza, the Israeli military seized the 44-strong fleet Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid for the war-torn region in early October. The Israeli military later dismantled the entire flotilla and detained hundreds of activists including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Marinette, the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza on October 3.
On October 6, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that its military intercepted another nine-boat flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea “trying to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza”. The Israeli military detained scores of activists on board the flotilla. The seizure of the aid flotillas and detention of the activists sparked international outrage and condemnation.
US-Brokered Ceasefire And Israel's Violations
On October 10, 2025, three days after the 2nd anniversary of Israel's war on Gaza, a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect hours after the Israeli cabinet approved the plan. The 20-point ceasefire plan, including an immediate end to the war, free aid flow into Gaza and swapping of October 7 hostages and Palestinian prisoners between Israel and Hamas, was unveiled by the United States on September 29.
The US' 20-point ceasefire plan primarily included the transformation of Gaza into a “deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”, amnesty for Hamas members “who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons”, and safe passage to Hamas members who wish to leave Gaza. As of December 9, all 251 hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack were returned to Israel, while Israel also handed over the Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences.
Despite the announcement of the ceasefire, the Israeli military continues to kill civilians in the war-ravaged Gaza. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 352 people were killed in Gaza as of November 30, leaving the truce vulnerable. Israel said that its military was targeting “militants” in Gaza.
All eyes now are on whether Israel and Hamas will formally sign on to the second phase of the ‘ceasefire’, which is supposed to see the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic government for the Strip, overseen by a Trump-led Board of Peace, as well as the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to replace the Israeli forces.
Read More:
