In her tent in the central Gaza Strip, early one morning last month, 31-year-old Fida al-Touta, a mother of five children, was combing her daughter’s hair when suddenly the sound of gunfire was heard.
Her son Ezz recalled those moments, saying, with tears streaming down his face: “My mother screamed at us, asking us to get down on the ground.”
Ezz did not realize that his mother had been injured until he saw his younger brother's hands stained with blood. The child was clinging to his mother at the moment the bullets rained down.
Ezz says: “Our mother was very kind and generous. What sin did she commit?”
Fidaa died on September 21 after being shot in the head.
Fidaa is one of more than 1,400 people killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli attacks since the ceasefire began on October 10, 2025, according to data from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, figures the United Nations considers reliable.
The ceasefire agreement witnessed the release of thousands of Palestinians who were being held by Israel, in exchange for the release of all 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, and an agreement to end the war that broke out following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the killing of about 1,200 people and the holding of 251 others hostage.
On the ground in Gaza, this led to the cessation of large-scale Israeli bombing, which brought a great deal of relief and increased the flow of humanitarian aid and medical supplies into the Strip.
However, Israel continued to launch raids on Gaza on an almost daily basis, even during the ceasefire period. In the past week alone, more than 30 people were killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israel says it is targeting members of Hamas, and accuses the movement of continuing to violate the ceasefire agreement.
Ahed, Fidaa’s husband, says about the ceasefire agreement: “All of this is pure lies. Every day there is shooting, and every day there is killing and death awaiting people.”
In response to the BBC's questions about Fida's killing, the Israeli army stated that it had no record of this incident.
The total death toll as a result of Israeli attacks since the start of the war in Gaza three years ago has reached more than 74,000 people, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Outside Fidaa's tent, her brother Ibrahim pointed to holes he said were caused by a barrage of bullets fired by Israeli forces.
He said: “This tent is just a piece of cloth. Imagine that a military vehicle came here and fired a barrage of bullets. There was also shooting coming from the sky, from above, from quadcopter drones, and it was directed at unarmed civilians.”
Fidaa is the fourth member of Ibrahim's siblings to be killed since the outbreak of war. He added: "We left the Zaytoun neighborhood in search of salvation, but death is chasing us."
The family was displaced seven times, but safety remained elusive. The United Nations indicates that most of Gaza's population, numbering 2.1 million, have been displaced several times due to the war, with many forced to live in camps and unsafe buildings.
On the same day that “Fidaa” was killed, Ismail Bardawil, 14 years old, was also killed by Israeli forces’ bullets in the Al-Mawasi area in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
His family told the BBC that he was shot by Israeli forces while he was fishing at the sea with his brothers, about 20 meters from the beach. Ismail is one of more than 300 children killed since the start of the ceasefire, according to data from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
For its part, the Israeli army said that it had no information about this incident either.
Over the past year, the Israeli army has released videos of its operations in Gaza that it says targeted Hamas and other factions. At least seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began.
Both Fidaa and Ismail lived near what is known as the “yellow line,” which separates the areas occupied by the Israeli army in Gaza and those controlled by Hamas in the west.
The areas surrounding this line are considered the most dangerous. Since Israeli forces have been firing constantly, relocation options remain very limited due to the severe shortage of available spaces.
The Strip was densely populated even before the outbreak of the war, but now, the population is crowded into an area of less than 40 percent of the total area of the Strip, an area controlled by the Hamas movement.
In May of this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he had directed the Israeli army to increase the area under Israeli control in the Gaza Strip to 70 percent.
Architect Amal Al-Abadla, who lived in a comfortable apartment before the war, now lives in a tent on the seashore.
Amal says: “Every time it rains, water floods the tent. I feel very afraid when strong winds blow, as our tent will be destroyed or damaged.”
Amal finds herself forced to raise her two children; Muhammad and Noah, alone. Her husband was not in Gaza when the war broke out, and they had not seen each other for three years. Her three brothers, who were helping her take care of the two children, were killed in separate attacks before the ceasefire began.
Al-Abadla says: “My son suffers from epileptic seizures in the winter due to the cold, as it is sometimes difficult to keep his body dry and warm.”
She added: "Before the war, I had a job, a home, and a normal life, but everything turned upside down. We no longer have hope or anything now; all our concern is to survive day by day, and to ensure that my children remain alive, neither hungry nor sick."
The October 2025 peace agreement was supposed to pave the way for reconstruction in Gaza, but the process has not yet begun; It is still stuck in a state of stalemate due to disagreement over the second phase of the agreement.
On the other hand, Trump's "peace committee" proposed a Gaza recovery plan worth $2.45 billion (£1.85 billion).
However, a year after the ceasefire and three years after the outbreak of war, many, like Amal, have deep doubts about real change on the ground.
