More than 74,200 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel's military campaign began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, a toll the United Nations deems reliable. On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said survivors are still waiting for relief that never fully arrived.
"It is time for the ceasefire to become permanent. It is time to allow humanitarian assistance at scale. And it is time to respect international law," Guterres said in a statement ahead of the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
The ministry operates under Hamas' authority. The UN's assessment that its figures are reliable carries weight precisely because of that. Guterres didn't cite a death toll himself. He said Palestinians in Gaza had suffered a "massive loss of life, displacement and destruction." Then he set the suffering of both peoples side by side: "Their suffering, too, demands an end, now."
Mourning and Memory
Guterres didn't soften his language about the attack that began the war. He called it "abhorrent," noting that it killed more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and that 251 hostages were taken. For Israelis, the anniversary marks a wound that hasn't closed.
He asked that the day mean more than grief. "Let this anniversary mark not only another year of mourning, but also a renewed determination to build a different future: one in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace and security, with their rights, dignity, and aspirations fulfilled," he said.
A Ceasefire That Hasn't Delivered
The brief ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump in October 2025 "brought some relief," Guterres said. But it "has yet to deliver security, adequate humanitarian assistance or a credible path to recovery and peace." That's a blunt assessment of a truce that quieted some fighting without fixing the conditions beneath it.
The obstacles are plain. Israel still controls most of Gaza and refuses to withdraw its soldiers until Hamas' disarmament has been verified. Hamas has advocated gradual disarmament rather than immediate and unilateral surrender of its arsenal. Each side's condition fuels the other's refusal. Civilians remain caught in the standoff.
A photograph accompanying the report, taken Oct. 5, 2026, shows a Palestinian man cleaning the roof of a building at Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. It's a small domestic act amid debris from a war that has left much of the territory in ruins.
A Widening War
Gaza is no longer the only front. Since the 2023 attacks, Israel has conducted military operations on several fronts, including an invasion of southern Lebanon to confront Hezbollah, an Islamist movement backed by Tehran. In late February, it also launched a war against Iran alongside the United States.
Guterres linked the Gaza ceasefire to a larger goal, calling for a "political path to lasting peace across the whole region." The framing matters. A ceasefire without a political horizon, he suggested, is only a pause.
Why This Matters:
Guterres' statement comes as humanitarian questions in Gaza remain unresolved and diplomatic efforts have barely begun. The gap he identified—between a truce on paper and security, aid and recovery on the ground—is where civilians live. Aid "at scale" and respect for international law aren't abstractions to the people in Jabalia; they determine whether families can rebuild. The standoff over disarmament and withdrawal shows how a temporary ceasefire can harden into a frozen conflict without a political path behind it. That's the argument for the two-state framework Guterres invoked, in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side. As the war spreads to Lebanon and Iran, Gaza's unfinished business risks being pushed aside, leaving its civilians to pay for the neglect.