In Pictures

Photos: Gaza ceasefire brings no relief as Israeli bombings continue

Over 80 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure lies in ruins as residents endure precarious living conditions and limited aid.

Displaced Palestinians carry jerricans amid tent shelters set up along the shore. — Displaced Palestinians carry jerricans through tent shelters along the Gaza City shoreline as strong winter winds batter the Palestinian enclave [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

By News Agencies

Sitting in his Gaza City tent, Mahmoud Abdel Aal expresses his frustration and worries, as conditions in the Palestinian enclave remain unchanged since the implementation of a United States-brokered ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

“There is no difference between the war and the ceasefire, nor between the first and second phase of the deal: Strikes continue every day,” Abdel Aal told the AFP news agency. “Everyone is worried and frustrated because nothing’s changed.”

Israeli attacks have persisted across Gaza, with at least 463 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began in October last year.

Following US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s announcement of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan on Wednesday, more than 14 people were killed in the coastal territory, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.

Amid a landscape of destroyed buildings and rain-damaged makeshift camps, Palestinians convey overwhelming bitterness. Though Israeli strikes have decreased in intensity since the ceasefire, daily bombings continue.

On Friday, an AFP photographer documented members of the Houli family walking through rubble after five relatives died in an air strike on their Deir el-Balah home in central Gaza.

Daily living conditions remain extremely precarious for most Palestinians, with more than 80 percent of infrastructure destroyed, according to the United Nations.

Water and electricity networks and waste management systems have collapsed. Hospitals operate minimally when functioning at all, and educational activities exist only as occasional initiatives. According to UNICEF, every child in Gaza requires psychological support after more than two years of genocidal war.

“We miss real life,” said Nivine Ahmad, a 47-year-old living in a displacement camp in southern Gaza’s al-Mawasi area, as she hopes to return to her home in Gaza City.

“I pictured living with my family in a prefabricated unit, with electricity and water instead of our bombed home,” she said. “Only then will I feel that the war is over.”

In the meantime, she urged the world to put itself in the shoes of the Palestinians. “We only have hope and patience,” she said.

Palestinians survey the destruction of a house after an Israeli military attack on the home of the al-Houli family — Palestinians examine the destruction after an Israeli military strike on the Houli family home in western Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip, which killed five people. [Bashar Taleb/AFP]

Palestinians mourn over a body during the funeral of three displaced members of the Hamoda family who died after parts of a war-damaged building — Palestinians gather in mourning around a body during the funeral of three displaced members of the Hamoda family. The victims died when sections of a war-damaged building, where they had sought refuge, collapsed during a windy winter day in Gaza City. [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

Palestinians move past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the war, — Palestinians navigate through the ruins of residential buildings in Gaza City, devastated by the ongoing war. [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]

A Palestinian woman holds a shirt outside a tent, near the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the war — A Palestinian woman, standing near the rubble of destroyed residential buildings in Gaza City, holds up a shirt outside her tent. [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]

A Palestinian boy stands amid the rubble inside a war-damaged building, parts of which collapsed — At least 463 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire entered into force on October 10, according to Gaza authorities. [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

A man carries a piece of wood at a displacement camp sheltering Palestinians on a beach amid stormy weather in Gaza City — A man transports a wooden plank through a displacement camp on a Gaza City beach, where Palestinians seek shelter amid harsh weather conditions. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

Palestinian girls walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the war, in Gaza City. [Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]

Members of the Hamouda family bid farewell to relatives who died when a damaged building collapsed onto their tents during a storm of wind and rain, at Al-Shifa Hospital — At least 71,455 people have been killed and 171,347 wounded by Israeli forces across Gaza since October 2023. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]