Doomsday Clock Ticks Closer as UN Notes 1,400 Palestinians Killed in Gaza Since Ceasefire
The doomsday clock ticks closer as the UN records continued killings across Gaza one year after the ceasefire announcement, with over 1,400 Palestinians reported killed in that period. [2] The UN Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office issued a press release titled “One year after ceasefire announcement, killings continue across Gaza” that expressed concern about ongoing crimes under international law, including war crimes. [2]
UN Statement One Year After Ceasefire
Since the ceasefire, over 1,400 Palestinians have been killed according to the UN, including 1,076 identified by UN personnel. [2] The press release also states that Israel has killed over 20,000 Palestinian children in Gaza since 7 October 2023. [2] This pattern raises serious concerns that Israel is directing attacks against civilians not directly participating in hostilities, which constitutes a war crime. [2] The UN statement notes that the ceasefire did nothing but give the international community respite from facing global outrage at Israel’s ongoing actions in Gaza. [2] UN personnel identified the 1,076 cases among the total of over 1,400 deaths recorded since the announcement. [2]
Criticism of UN Complicity and Hypocrisy
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The UN is criticised for commemorating its own failures and complicity in colonialism rather than halting the violence. [2] Nothing spells hypocrisy more accurately than the UN commemorating its failures in a press release that expresses purported concern about continued crimes under international law. [2] The ceasefire was announced so belatedly that it holds no value except in international rhetoric. [2] All war crimes are war crimes, yet the UN distinguishes according to time frames because timeframes suit bureaucratic purposes. [2] Palestinians have been forcibly displaced multiple times, and there is passive observation as Israel’s gradual encroachment reaches its target area of 70 per cent of Gaza, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared. [2] Israeli officials have already stated there will be no withdrawal. [2] The UN will undoubtedly then continue with its passive observation as Israel occupied 80 per cent of Gaza. [2] In November the UN celebrates solidarity with Palestinians on the day it allowed the Zionist colonial movement its presence in Palestine on stolen land. [2] Decades after the first anti-colonial struggles for liberation started, the UN is still protecting its colonial roots while referring to international law, human rights, Sustainable Development Goals, non-binding resolutions and the fallacy of hope. [2] One year since the ceasefire, the UN should be contemplating its existence and its complicity with colonialism. [2]
Israeli Soldiers Testimonies on Killings
Ten Israeli soldiers described to Der Spiegel how their units killed unarmed Palestinians, with orders to shoot men of military age, and recorded all dead as terrorists. [3] David, an infantry reservist who served several deployments in central Gaza and Khan Younis, told the German outlet that his unit killed many unarmed men. [3] A high-ranking officer told him that the Arabs must be punished and that they must understand that more and more land is being taken from them. [3] David said relatively educated, secular Israelis initially committed the war crimes described, but as the war progressed more messianic extremists arrived. [3] Many soldiers treated the killings as a religious duty. [3] David recalled calls to exterminate all the Arabs, build settlements and wipe out Gaza, things heard from ministers like Bezalel Smotrich or Itamar Ben Gvir. [3] Soldiers often received orders to shoot men of military age to kill them. [3] After killing Palestinians, soldiers would light cigarettes and boast to their parents about the killings, David said. [3] Yuval Green, a reservist who served with the 55th Parachute Brigade in Khan Younis for about 50 days between late November 2023 and January 2024, recalled orders that there would be no mercy and that if a child goes into a house where a terrorist is, the child should be killed along with the terrorist. [3] Green said the commander deliberately remained vague about whom soldiers could kill in a way that allowed Palestinians to be killed just like that. [3]
Specific Incidents and Brigade Statistics
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Yaakov, an Israeli reservist who volunteered to fight in Gaza and spent 250 days in the central Gaza Strip, described a scorched-earth policy under which Palestinians were to have nowhere left to return to. [3] My brigade killed 160 to 170 people during our more than 80 days there, only one man was suspected of carrying a weapon, Yaakov told Der Spiegel. [3] All of these dead were reported as terrorists. [3] In another incident, soldiers labelled Palestinians cooling off at the beach as terrorists and shot them dead. [3] Tal, another Israeli reservist, described the aftermath of Israel’s attack on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on 25 August 2025, which killed 22 people, including five journalists. [3] When people are killed or injured, the army’s first attempt is always to link them to Hamas, Tal said. [3] Within the army, soldiers called this post-mortem incrimination. [3] Israel initially described the journalists it killed as Hamas terrorists. [3] The soldiers referred to it as a Hamas camera because Hamas could use it to see everything happening nearby, Tal said. [3] Their goal was to disable such cameras, but the Reuters cameraman they targeted was not a terrorist. [3] They killed a legitimate journalist. [3] My impression is that these soldiers fundamentally viewed journalists as terrorists, he added. [3]
British Ex-Soldier and War Crimes Calls
A British ex-soldier was pictured posing in front of a burning Gaza school, with an investigation linking his likely military company to destruction in Khan Younis and prompting calls for a war crimes probe. [1] Findings of an investigation by Declassified UK include a photo taken in Gaza and research linking the military company he likely served with to destruction in Khan Younis. [1]
Broader Context of Encroachment and Future Concerns
Israel continues military operations and encroachment on up to 70 per cent of Gaza with no withdrawal planned. [2] The bizarre end Palestinians fear is not spoken about as much by the UN, where will Palestinians live. [2] The UN should not be contemplating how Israel continued with its war crimes but contemplating its existence and its complicity with colonialism. [2] Those on the right side of history do not need anniversaries to see colonialism for what it is. [2]
What to watch next: The UN’s passive observation continues as Israel’s gradual encroachment reaches further targets in Gaza, with officials stating there will be no withdrawal and repeated displacements leaving Palestinians with nowhere to go. [2]
