The United Nations Security Council held an open debate on Thursday on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, amid what the UN described as a rise in lethal strikes, demolitions and violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
According to UN News, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that ended two years of war. Human Rights Watch, in its own assessment published days earlier, also put the post-ceasefire toll at at least 1,400 killed and 4,881 wounded, citing Gaza's Health Ministry. Margalla News attributes the casualty figures to these sources and has not independently verified them.
The UN said nearly all of Gaza's 2.1 million people still need shelter assistance as winter approaches. The International Organization for Migration warned that current supplies meet only about 17 per cent of needs, according to UN News.
Aid delivery remains constrained by underfunding and Israeli restrictions, the UN said. The UN relief agency OCHA said access is limited to more than 64 per cent of Gaza's land.
In the West Bank, the UN reported more than 1,600 Israeli settler attacks recorded this year as of mid-September, and more than 4,300 Palestinians displaced. With the olive harvest under way, UN partners are working to protect farmers, UN News reported.
Human Rights Watch said reconstruction had not begun and aid volumes remained far below required levels, and called on other countries to act to protect civilians and ensure rights-based reconstruction. The organisation also made a legal characterisation of Israeli conduct that Israel disputes; Margalla News attributes that characterisation to Human Rights Watch and does not present it as an adjudicated finding. Israel has said its strikes target Hamas militants and accuses the group of attempting to rearm, an allegation Hamas denies.
Context: The October 2025 ceasefire ended large-scale fighting and enabled the release of remaining hostages, but it did not end violence, and negotiations over disarmament, withdrawal and governance remain unresolved.