Gaza at a crossroads: winter hardship, a fragile truce, and the fight for accountability
S Arefin 
Gaza’s war is in a new phase, but the emergency is not over. A US-brokered ceasefire has curbed large bombardments compared with last winter, yet sporadic strikes and armed incidents still disrupt aid and endanger civilians. UN monitors describe a territory where mass displacement, damaged hospitals, and thin supply lines continue to define daily life.
Humanitarian access remains the central constraint. The UN humanitarian office documents bottlenecks at crossings and repeated interruptions to electricity, water, and sanitation that complicate distributions and repairs. Recent assessments in the north detail hospitals needing generators, pumps, and basic WASH services before critical wards can reopen. Every security flare-up ripples through the pipeline, slowing food, shelter materials, and medical deliveries.
UNRWA reports a vast emergency operation sustaining daily life: water trucking and limited network fixes, ad-hoc sewage removal, primary health services for families crowding into improvised shelters, and schooling in emergency settings. The agency stresses that predictable access and fuel are the backbone of stabilisation because bakeries, clinics, and water systems depend on power. Without it, communities fall back on costly private generators or go without clean water.
Energy is now a life-or-death variable. Damage to substations and lines means even when power is available it cannot reliably reach hospitals and desalination plants. Engineers describe a race between field repairs and renewed damage, while health workers warn that outages jeopardise surgery, neonatal care, and the cold chain for medicine. Restoring stable energy is a humanitarian imperative, not a luxury.
Diplomacy has not yet produced durable peace. Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators continue shuttle efforts to consolidate the truce, formalise monitoring channels, expand aid, and sequence hostage releases with prisoner exchanges. A Cairo coordination hub was set up earlier this year, and phased arrangements have been explored to keep talks alive while tackling harder political questions. Progress remains incremental.
The truce is brittle. News outlets have recorded deadly incidents and contested violations even during reduced fighting, including disputes over remains transferred under the deal. Such shocks test liaison mechanisms and public trust while families wait for news about captives and detainees.
Law and accountability remain central. At the International Court of Justice, proceedings in South Africa v. Israel continue under the Genocide Convention. In January 2024 the Court ordered provisional measures obliging Israel to prevent genocidal acts, punish incitement, allow humanitarian aid, and report on compliance—orders that remain in force while the case proceeds. Subsequent filings have focused on implementation amid ongoing hostilities.
Inside Gaza, social resilience meets exhaustion. Teachers run improvised classes, doctors rebuild triage protocols, and volunteer networks map vulnerable households. Yet psychosocial stress is profound, and families separated by displacement struggle to access documentation, cash, and safe shelter. The UN estimates that the vast majority of residents have been displaced at least once since the war began, and many still lack adequate housing as winter approaches.
What to watch next: whether monitoring channels can absorb shocks without unravelling the ceasefire; whether sustained fuel deliveries allow utilities to restart water production at scale; whether donors back a multi-year reconstruction vehicle that finances power grids, hospitals, and housing under civilian oversight; and how accountability pathways—at the ICJ and in domestic courts—shape incentives for restraint and protection of civilians.
Bottom line: Gaza’s humanitarian emergency persists despite a relative reduction in large-scale attacks. Relief agencies can avert worse outcomes if access, fuel, and security guarantees hold; without them, preventable disease and displacement will deepen. People are navigating winter in damaged homes and crowded shelters, with hopes pinned on a truce that still needs enforcement, a reconstruction plan that still needs financing, and a legal process that still needs time urgently.
Sources: ABC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian
Image: Wikimedia Commons
About The Author
Sultanul Arefin 
Suzan Seherin 
