Islamic Relief says Israeli fire kills or wounds a Palestinian every 90 minutes in Gaza

A casualty every 90 minutes

On Thursday, the UK-based charity Islamic Relief said Israeli attacks have killed or wounded a Palestinian in Gaza every 90 minutes on average since the ceasefire was announced in October last year. It counted at least 1,454 Palestinians killed and more than 5,000 wounded over the year, including at least 320 children, close to one a day. Gaza's Health Ministry reported higher figures: 1,471 killed and 5,189 wounded since the ceasefire, including four killed and 28 wounded in the past 24 hours. The ministry's total for Israeli attacks since October 2023 stands at 74,254. Sources give different start dates for the truce, with the BBC citing 10 October 2025 and the Washington Post citing the signing at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on 9 October 2025.

An Islamic Relief aid worker in Gaza, whose name is withheld for safety, said there is still a lot of fear because displacement camps and crowded areas are targeted. The charity urged world leaders to increase pressure to protect civilians and uphold international law.

A ceasefire in name only cannot be an excuse for international inaction.

Strikes continue on the ground

Gaza's Hamas-run civil defence said seven people were killed on Thursday in separate Israeli strikes, six of them in Gaza City and one southeast of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The civil defence said a woman and a child were killed when Israeli aircraft bombed a residential building in Gaza City. The Israeli army said three of the victims were 'military operatives' and was checking reports about the other four. Israel says its strikes target Hamas operatives and accuses the group of continued ceasefire violations. The Israeli military has declared the deaths of five soldiers and one civilian contractor over the same period. Hamas denied Israeli claims that it uses Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza for military activity, calling the accusations 'criminal incitement'.

The BBC described the killing of Fida al-Toutah, a 31-year-old mother of five who was shot in the head in her tent in central Gaza and died on 21 September. Her husband Ahed described daily shootings and killings in the territory. The Israel Defense Forces told the BBC it had no record of the incident. Gaza's health ministry said more than 30 people had been killed in the past week.

Territory, reconstruction and a stalled plan

Islamic Relief says Israel has used the Yellow Line, which marks the area under Israeli military control, to push Palestinians out of 65 percent of Gaza, crowding nearly 2.1 million people into the remaining 35 percent. The charity says about 82 percent of structures are damaged or destroyed, more than half of health services have shut down, and more than 20,000 severely ill patients are denied permission to leave for treatment. The Washington Post reported that Netanyahu told an audience in May that he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to seize 70 percent of Gaza, up from the 53 percent Israel controlled at the time of the ceasefire. Israel continues to block shelter materials, fuel and medical supplies, according to Islamic Relief, and the Washington Post reports that reconstruction remains blocked by Netanyahu's government.

At a briefing at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Nickolay Mladenov, high representative of the Board of Peace created by Trump to lead the Gaza peace process, acknowledged that reconstruction was hampered by political considerations in Israel. He described the mood as the vote nears:

Everything is a little bit more emotional, a little bit more politically sensitive

Election campaign shadows the plan

Israel votes on 27 October, and Netanyahu is fighting for his job, the Washington Post reported. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu has not been a cooperative partner in the Trump administration's effort to secure peace and rebuild Gaza. Trump's plan called for a gradual Israeli withdrawal in exchange for Hamas's disarmament, and the Sharm el-Sheikh ceasefire agreement was signed a year before this report. Several parties aligned with Netanyahu's right-wing bloc have touted plans for relocating Gazans en masse, while polls show many Israeli voters view Gazans as a security threat. The ceasefire followed the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, and Israel released thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the 48 remaining hostages held in Gaza.