Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist – Diplomat – Advisor - Consultant,Founding Chair, Global Silk Route research Alliance.(E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com).
One thousand days have passed since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, yet the suffering of the Palestinian people continues with no real end in sight. Peace talks, ceasefire announcements, international appeals, humanitarian warnings, and diplomatic efforts have repeatedly failed to protect civilian life. For Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied East Jerusalem, the crisis is not only a political issue; it is a daily struggle for survival, dignity, family, food, shelter, medical care, and basic human rights.
According to figures released by Gaza’s Government Media Office, the human cost after 1,000 days is devastating. It says 73,066 Palestinians have been killed and 173,514 wounded. More than half of those killed were children, women, or elderly people. The same figures state that 262 journalists and 556 aid workers have been killed, while 58,800 children have been orphaned, losing one or both parents. More than 2,700 families have reportedly been erased from Gaza’s civil registry. These numbers are not just statistics; behind each one is a name, a family, a home, and a story cut short.
The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system has made the catastrophe even worse. Gaza officials report that 1,700 medical workers have been killed, 38 hospitals damaged, destroyed, or put out of service, and 197 ambulances targeted. In a place where bombardment, displacement, hunger, disease, and trauma are widespread, the destruction of hospitals is especially cruel. More than 2.1 million cases of infectious diseases have been recorded, while over 22,000 patients need treatment abroad but remain unable to leave because of restrictions. For many sick and injured Palestinians, survival depends not only on medicine, but also on permission to access it.
The physical destruction of Gaza is almost beyond imagination. More than 90 percent of the territory has reportedly been destroyed, with 223,000 tonnes of explosives dropped. Around 410,000 homes and buildings have been destroyed or made uninhabitable. Nearly two million people have been forcibly displaced, while 350,000 families need shelter. This means that Gaza’s population is not simply living through a military conflict; it is living through the systematic destruction of the conditions necessary for normal human life.
The economic losses are equally severe. Direct losses across 15 sectors are estimated at around $80 billion. But the real damage cannot be measured only in money. Schools have been destroyed, universities disrupted, hospitals weakened, markets ruined, farmland damaged, and entire communities uprooted. Even if the bombing stopped today, Gaza would still face years, perhaps decades, of reconstruction, psychological recovery, and social healing.
Despite talk of a ceasefire, Israeli attacks have continued. Over the last 24 hours alone, two Palestinians were killed and 12 injured in attacks across Gaza, while two bodies were recovered from under the rubble. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 1,059 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 3,429, while 788 bodies have been recovered from destroyed buildings. These figures raise a serious question: what is the meaning of a ceasefire if civilians continue to be killed, homes demolished, tents attacked, and families displaced?
Reports from Gaza on Wednesday further show the fragility of this so-called ceasefire. Israeli strikes killed three Palestinians and wounded others across Gaza. Aircraft struck people in the Sheikh Radhwan neighborhood of Gaza City, killing two and injuring several. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it evacuated two wounded civilians after a strike on Omar al-Mukhtar Street, including one person in critical condition. In the south, Israeli vehicles reportedly fired directly at displacement tents and homes in Qizan Rashwan, south of Khan Younis. Such incidents show that Palestinians remain unsafe even in places where they have already been displaced.
Hunger has also returned as a central weapon of suffering. Gaza’s Social Development Ministry says only 25 percent of the population’s food needs are entering the Strip. Deputy Minister Riyad al-Bitar linked the crisis to aid restrictions, economic collapse, and Israeli control over commercial trucks. He said only 120 to 150 aid and commercial trucks are being allowed daily, far below the 600 reportedly agreed under the October ceasefire. When food becomes scarce, children, the elderly, pregnant women, the wounded, and the sick suffer first. Famine is not only a humanitarian failure; it is a moral failure.
The killing has also reached Palestinian sports and culture. The Palestinian Football Association reported that Israeli forces shot Saleem Al-Ashqar, a 32-year-old goalkeeper for Khadamat Khan Younis who had also played for Al-Aqsa and Al-Musaddar clubs. He was recently married and waiting for the birth of his first child. The association says 1,009 Palestinian sports figures have been killed since the beginning of the genocide, including 567 from football, and it has filed a complaint with FIFA seeking Israel’s expulsion. Sport is often described as a symbol of unity and peace, but Palestinian athletes are being denied even the right to live.
The suffering is not limited to Gaza. In occupied East Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Governorate reported that at least 11 Palestinians were killed during the first half of 2026, including eight shot by Israeli forces and three killed by Israeli settlers. It also recorded 866 arrests, 288 demolitions and land-leveling operations, including 66 forced self-demolitions, and 269 settler attacks. The report also said Israeli authorities-imposed a near-total closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque from February 28 onward, preventing worshippers from entering amid increased settler incursions. These measures reflect a broader policy of pressure, displacement, and control.
The continued suffering of Palestinians exposes the weakness of the international system. The United Nations Charter, international humanitarian law, human rights conventions, and global moral principles all claim to protect civilians, medical workers, journalists, children, and occupied populations. Yet in Palestine, these protections have repeatedly failed. Statements of concern are not enough. Humanitarian aid is not enough. Temporary pauses are not enough. What is needed is accountability, protection, and a serious international commitment to stop the killing and forced displacement.
The international community must act with urgency and unity. Peace-loving nations, civil society organizations, legal institutions, religious leaders, media professionals, academics, and ordinary individuals all have a role to play. They must demand protection for civilians, unrestricted humanitarian access, medical evacuation for the sick and wounded, accountability for war crimes, and an end to policies of starvation, displacement, and collective punishment. Silence only encourages further brutality.
Palestinian suffering should not be treated as normal. No people should be expected to live under bombardment, hunger, blockade, displacement, and daily fear. No child should grow up without parents, without school, without safety, and without hope. The tragedy of Palestine is a test of humanity’s conscience. If the world cannot protect human life in Gaza and Palestine, then the promises of international law and human rights lose their meaning.
The question before the world is simple: will the international community continue to watch, condemn, and move on, or will it finally act to protect Palestinian lives? History will not only judge those who committed atrocities. It will also judge those who had the power to stop them but chose hesitation over justice.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY）