On ceasefire anniversary, US claims ‘real progress’ made in demilitarizing Gaza
Washington says building will be difficult but progress underway for Hamas-free rule and security for Israel; Kushner, Red Cross mark one year since return of living hostages
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The United States on Tuesday claimed that “real progress” was being made toward a demilitarized Gaza Strip, on the one-year anniversary of the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit, which marked the start of the hostage release-ceasefire deal in the Gaza war.
Since the onset of the truce crafted by the administration of US President Donald Trump, said the statement, “a series of remarkable achievements have built the foundations for a new Gaza: an enduring ceasefire, the return of every hostage both living and deceased, the establishment of the Board of Peace and a Palestinian technocratic administration to run Gaza, and a fully costed recovery plan.”
The State Department claimed that Hamas’s theft of humanitarian aid has “dwindled.”
“Rebuilding Gaza will be an arduous, multi-year process, and implementation will be difficult,” it continued. “But we are making real progress toward a demilitarized Gaza, where Palestinians can live without Hamas rule and Israel can have genuine and lasting security.”
Top US envoy Jared Kushner and the International Committee of the Red Cross also marked the first anniversary of the release of the final 20 living hostages from Hamas captivity, recalling their emotional reunions with their families and the diplomatic efforts that made their return possible.
“One year ago today, all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages finally came home after two years of unimaginable suffering in Gaza,” Kushner wrote on X, describing witnessing their return as “one of the most special moments of my life.”
Kushner thanked Trump for his leadership and determination, alongside Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other top officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and Turkey who helped secure the October 2025 agreement.
Separately, Julien Lerisson, head of the ICRC delegation in Israel, told The Times of Israel that the release of the hostages demonstrated the life-saving power of diplomacy.
“Seeing them reunited with family members who had waited anxiously every day for this moment is something that will stay with me,” Lerisson said.
He stressed that the ICRC repeatedly called for the unconditional release of all hostages throughout their captivity.
The operation, he emphasized, would not have been possible “without the agreement between the parties and the significant efforts of the mediators.”
“When political agreements are reached, lives can be saved,” Lerisson said. “There is no substitute for the political will to protect human life.”
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said that 1,488 people have been killed and 5,281 wounded by IDF strikes and gunfire in the Strip since the ceasefire took effect on October 11, 2025.
The toll did not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
The IDF had not released figures on the number of strikes carried out or the number of terror operatives killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the truce.
Separately, Hamas confirmed that a member of the terror group who killed Border Police officer Staff Sgt. Barel Hadaria Shmueli during a riot on the Gaza border in August 2021 was killed during fighting in the Strip two years ago.
On August 21, 2021, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip held a large demonstration along the Gaza border, near the defunct Karni Crossing. At one point during the demonstration, dozens of rioters rushed the border barrier, up to a hole in the concrete wall that was being used by Israeli snipers as a firing position.
Hamas operative Muhammad Maher Abu Jasser approached the hole in the wall, stuck his pistol through it, and fired three times. One of these shots struck Shmueli in the head, critically wounding him. He died of his injury days later.
During a ceasefire in January 2025, Palestinian media reported that the body of Abu Jasser was found following fighting between the terror group and the IDF in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.
Hamas on Monday published an obituary video for Abu Jasser, saying that he was killed on December 6, 2024. The video showed Abu Jasser confirming he was the terrorist who killed Shmueli in 2021.
The Israeli military and Shin Bet security agency have not commented.
نشرت كتائب #القسام مشاهد للشهيد "محمد ماهر أبو جاسر"، من كتيبة سهيل زيادة بلواء شمال #غزة، الذي قتل قناصاً إسرائيلياً بمسدس من خلف الجدار خلال مسيرة العودة عام 2021.
وتوثق المشاهد جانباً من مشاركته في حرب "طوفان الأقصى" وإعداده كمائن لآليات الاحتلال، إلى جانب وصيته التي دعا فيها… pic.twitter.com/0LyhalGBgk
— عربي بوست (@arabic_post) October 12, 2026
Additionally, the military announced on Tuesday that five terror operatives were killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip in recent days.
The IDF said that one strike on Sunday in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis killed three members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as they gathered to plan attacks on troops.
They were identified by the military as Muhammad Abu Hajjaj, an engineering operative, Yousef Abu Razak, a deputy squad commander, and Abdelhamid Jadallah, a rocket operative.
A separate strike on Monday in southern Gaza killed Salah a-Din Iyad Abd al-Hamid and Izz a-Din Iyad Diab Barhoum, identified by the army as members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba Force in the terror group’s Rafah Brigade.
The IDF said the five had been advancing attacks against troops and civilians and attempting to restore the capabilities of the two terror groups, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire.”
חיל-האוויר תקף במרחב ח'אן יונס שלשום (א') וחיסל שלושה מחבלים בזרוע הצבאית של ארגון הטרור גא״פ, בעת שנפגשו לקדם מתווי טרור נגד כוחותינו.
המחבלים שחוסלו:* מחמד אבו חג'אג – פעיל הנדסה
* יוסף אבו רזק – סגן ראש חוליה
* עבדאלחמיד ג'אדאללה – פעיל במערך הרקטיבתקיפה נוספת בדרום… pic.twitter.com/VxLKSYTPKe
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) October 13, 2026
According to the Gaza ministry, a total of 74,377 people have been killed in the Strip since the start of the war.
The Israeli military believes that Hamas’s overall toll is largely accurate, with IDF officials estimating that two to three civilians were killed for every dead terror operative.
The IDF says it killed over 24,000 combatants in Gaza during the war and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
The military justifies the strikes amid the ceasefire by claiming that the terror operatives had planned to carry out attacks on Israeli troops operating in the Strip.
The US has asked Israel to respond only to imminent threats as it seeks to advance its Hamas disarmament plan, but Jerusalem has largely bucked those calls.
The Times of Israel Community.