On the evening of 17 March 2025, Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire that it agreed upon with Hamas on 15 January, launching air strikes on Gaza as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the resumption of conflict. Even during the ceasefire period, Israel also continued its attacks and has imposed blockade on Gaza since March 2, albeit at a lower scale. Between 19 January and 17 March, during the ceasefire, Israel had killed at least 170 Gazans and allowed only 70% of the 600 aid trucks to be allowed in daily (AJ 18/03/2025 a). The 17 March air strikes killed at least 404 civilians (170 children and 80 women) and injured around 660. On 20 March, Israel launched additional air strikes and resumed ground operations, killing around 91 Palestinians and wounding dozens (Reuters 20/03/2025 and 18/03/2025; OCHA 18/03/2025 a; The Guardian 18/03/2025). On Monday 24 March, Israel launched several strikes killing at least 65 civilians, including children and journalists, the attacks have been registered in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Beit Lahiya and attacks to the Red Cross building in Rafah (The Guardian 24/03/2025; France24 24/03/2025).
Until 25 March, many bodies had not been retrieved from under rubble. The death toll continues to rise as injured individuals fail to receive access to essential medicine because of Israel’s most recent and longest blockade on Gaza since 2 March. Medical facilities are also overwhelmed, with many destroyed, rendering them unable to provide adequate treatment (OCHA 18/03/2025 a; The Guardian 18/03/2025). With the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) specifically targeting hospitals and healthcare workers since October 2023, causing Gaza’s health system to collapse completely, leaving it without any capacity even before the ceasefire (Insecurity Insight 06/11/2024).
Until 25 March 2025, no safe zones had been established. At the same time, the IDF also attacked previously designated safe areas before the ceasefire, and the recent air strikes hit Al Mawasi and IDP tents in Tal Al Sultan (western Rafah), which were supposed to be considered safe humanitarian zones (AJ 18/03/2025 a; OCHA 18/03/2025 a). The 17 March air strikes hit areas around Gaza city, Khan Younis, and Rafah the hardest (IFRC 18/03/2025). These air strikes have caused new waves of displacement under devastating humanitarian conditions (OCHA 18/03/2025 a).
People in Gaza were already struggling with food insecurity, unmet health needs, inadequate shelter, limited education, and livelihood losses because of conflict and blockades. Since 2 March, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid into Gaza, and humanitarian organisations have since reported food rotting in storage and medicine expiring as aid permits are denied (OCHA 18/03/2025 b).
The ceasefire, agreed upon on 16 January and implemented on 19 January, was supposed to have several phases. The first was implemented with Hamas releasing 25 living and eight deceased Israeli hostages (out of the 251 abducted on 7 October 2023), while Israel released about 1,777 Palestinian prisoners (out of the 1,900 indicated in the ceasefire agreement; estimates point to at least 9,619 Palestinians in Israeli prisons). Simultaneously, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from Gaza’s populated areas, and humanitarian aid was supposed to enter Gaza without interruption. This did not happen, and Israel has continued attacking, albeit with less intensity, while also blocking aid since 2 March. Phase two was to involve a permanent ceasefire and the exchange of the remaining Israeli hostages for more Palestinian prisoners, but negotiations never began as scheduled after both parties accused the other of violating the truce. On 19 February, Hamas said they were willing to free all Israeli hostages in one go in exchange for a lasting truce and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, but the Israeli Government rejected their proposal (FP 18/03/2025; OCHA 17/03/2025; NPR 17/03/2025; BBC 19/03/2025; B’Tselem accessed DD/03/2025; The Guardian 19/02/2025; AJ 19/02/2025)
