Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has affirmed that Cairo is maintaining contacts with all parties to uphold the halt in fighting in Gaza, announcing that Egypt will host an international conference focused on early recovery and reconstruction.
But developments on the ground highlight the fragility of the truce. The U.S.-based Jewish Voice for Peace accused Israel of committing 500 ceasefire violations in 44 days, contending that “the genocide has not stopped.”
Meanwhile, Saraya Al-Quds—the armed wing of Islamic Jihad—handed over the body of an Israeli captive to Red Cross teams in Deir Al-Balah, after Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades said it would transfer the body of another captive later on Tuesday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that hospitals received 17 Palestinians killed over the past 24 hours—three in new Israeli strikes and 14 recovered from beneath destroyed buildings—along with 16 wounded. The total death toll since October 7, 2023, has risen to 69,775, with 170,965 injured.
The humanitarian crisis continues to deepen. Gaza’s Civil Defense said it retrieved the remains of 14 people from a destroyed home in Al-Maghazi refugee camp. In Khan Younis, heavy rain and winter storms flooded dozens of tents in the Al-Mawasi displacement zone, where residents described scenes of devastation. A municipal spokesman called the conditions “extremely catastrophic,” citing widespread destruction of roads, water infrastructure, and sewage networks.
Tensions also grew around the U.S.- and Israeli-supervised “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,” which announced the end of its mission. Gaza’s Government Media Office accused the foundation of serving as a “fake humanitarian cover,” claiming 2,615 Palestinians died from starvation near its distribution sites. The foundation said it had safely delivered 187 million free meals to civilians.
Economically, conditions have reached what the United Nations describes as historic lows. A new report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said two years of war and Israeli economic restrictions have triggered an “unprecedented collapse” of the Palestinian economy. GDP per capita has fallen back to 2003 levels, erasing 22 years of development gains, and the agency ranked the crisis among the ten worst economic shocks globally since 1960.
International criticism also intensified. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned what he called “brutality against the women of Gaza,” saying two-thirds of the 70,000 Palestinians killed in the past two years were women and children. He pledged that Turkey would continue “speaking the truth in every forum.”
UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, accused Israel of perpetrating a “massacre of homes.” He said the ongoing demolition of housing in Gaza “on flimsy pretexts” forms part of a broader crime of genocide. In an interview with Anadolu Agency, he said Israel continues to kill civilians, destroy homes, and obstruct adequate aid even during the truce. “The situation is not much different from before the ceasefire,” he said, noting only large-scale airstrikes have paused.
Press freedom organizations also sounded the alarm. The Foreign Press Association criticized Israel’s ongoing refusal to allow journalists into Gaza, saying repeated delays in responding to its petition have “thrown the legal process into disarray.” The Israeli High Court has given the government until December 24 to respond, and the association said it hopes the new deadline will finally allow international media “to do their job and inform the world about Gaza.”
