Gaza Briefing: Friday 25 September to Thursday 1 October 2026 / Page Updated:  3 October 2026

The NCF’s weekly overview of developments in and related to Gaza, including the humanitarian situation, aid, peace efforts and related developments.

In This Update

• Deaths as a Consequence of War
• Humanitarian Aid and other civilian crossings for the Week of 11–17 September
• Key Gaza related Developments: 12 September – 18 September
• Gaza Governance
• West Bank Key Developments

Deaths as a consequence of war

A note on this week’s reporting window: This week accordingly covers Friday 25 September to Thursday 1 October 2026 inclusive.

Since 7th October 2023

Since the ceasefire on October 10 2025

This week (25 September – 1 October):

Sources: WAFA/IMEMC/Palestine Information Center/Al Jazeera, 1 October 2026. Israel: no new named fatalities; figures held at last week’s Times of Israel/Al Arabiya-sourced totals.

Notes on this week’s figures

Gaza: the “since 7 October 2023” topline rose by 112, while the “since ceasefire” counter rose by only 31 — a gap of 81, consistent with the same recurring, OCHA-documented mechanism as previous weeks: bodies recovered from rubble (mostly from deaths that pre-date the ceasefire) being certified in batches and added to the cumulative total without a matching addition to the since-ceasefire counter. No single large batch-certification figure was reported this week in the sourcing used, so the full 112/31 split is presented as-is rather than further decomposed.

Israel: no new Israeli fatalities were confirmed in reporting for 25 September–1 October. One Israeli soldier was reported seriously wounded in an “operational accident” during this general period in earlier reporting, but on verification that report dated to April 2026 and is unrelated to this window — no genuine new Israeli casualty event this week, so all four Israeli figures (since 7 October 2023: 1,806 fatalities/3,004 injuries; since ceasefire: 7 fatalities/20 injuries) are carried over unchanged from last week.

Humanitarian Aid for the week of 25 September–1 October

NCF Exclusive: Gaza Crossings Authority Weekly Report

This section is built entirely from the Gaza Crossings and Borders Authority’s own official weekly bulletin, obtained directly by NCF’s Head for Gaza, Adel Al Zanoon, through his personal contact with the Director General of the Authority. NCF is grateful to both for this access.

Crossing operational status, 25 September–1 October (7-day period):

Passenger movement, 25 September–1 October:

Net movement this week: outflow of 61. Detained: 1.

Breakdown of the 332 departures: Patients 153, Companions 179, Coordination cases 0, Evacuations 0 — entirely medical again, as in the previous two weeks.

Truck movement, 25 September–1 October (all via Kerem Shalom):

Fuel breakdown (60 tankers): Diesel 34, Cooking gas 25, Petrol 1.

Truck contents by category: Food/provisions 1,027, Consumer goods/household items 294, Shelter/relief supplies 55, Medical/health supplies 4, Fuel 60, Fodder/seeds 6 (total 1,446).

Source: Crossings and Borders Authority – Gaza, Public Relations and Media Department, weekly bulletin for 25 September–1 October 2026, via Adel Al Zanoon and the Director General.

Week-on-week context: total truck volume rose sharply from last week’s 822 to 1,446 — a 76% jump — driven by a near-doubling of commercial trucks (588 → 1,002) and more than double the aid trucks (185 → 384), alongside Kerem Shalom running fully open for goods all seven days (versus five last week) and no closure days at all for commercial traffic. Passenger traffic also picked up (185 → 332 departures), with Kerem Shalom opening for passenger travel for the first time in several weeks (2 days this week, versus zero last week), on top of Rafah’s three open days (versus two last week).

Caveats

• Single-source (Gaza-side authority), not independently cross-verified by an international body.
• Groups 1/2/3 (Chamber of Commerce, UN2720, bilateral) remain deprioritized per the standing methodology — mentioned only if a specific figure is needed as cross-check.
• COGAT (gaza-aid-data.gov.il) remains unusable as a current source.

Key Developments: 25 September–1 October

27 September: The UN estimates that Gaza’s 61 million tonnes of war rubble — which may conceal up to 10,000 bodies — will take 7 to 10 years to clear even under favourable conditions.

29 September: Three Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City and by gunfire in Deir al-Balah. The Gaza City strike kills Izz al-Din Al-Beik, head of Hamas’s armed wing in northern Gaza, confirmed by both Israel (Netanyahu and Katz) and Hamas.

29 September: Al Jazeera publishes updated satellite imagery showing the scale of destruction across Gaza nearly three years into the war, with a UN assessment cited finding about 82% of structures damaged and roughly two-thirds completely destroyed.

30 September: Eight Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, including journalist Muhammad Abdel Aziz Al-Najjar — the 263rd journalist killed since 7 October 2023 — though Gaza’s Government Media Office did not give the location or circumstances of his death. Separately, six people are killed by an Israeli drone strike on a passenger van in Tal al-Hawa, and WAFA reports an Israeli strike on a residential apartment near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City kills at least one woman.

1 October: The Danish Refugee Council reports Israel has expanded its “Yellow Line” military-zone demarcation from roughly 58% to about 70% of Gaza’s territory, preventing many displaced Gazans from returning home, and documents dire, unsafe conditions at displacement sites — collapsing sewage, limited clean water, and a growing rodent population.

1 October: The IDF and Shin Bet say they killed a Hamas sniper, Tamer Hamaida, in a strike in the Khan Younis area, accusing him of planning sniper attacks on troops and civilians — one of several Israeli strikes this week described as targeting ceasefire violations.

2 October: The WHO reports that large volumes of medical supplies entering Gaza face a median wait of 74 days for Israeli clearance, bringing medicines closer to expiry and raising the risk of equipment damage before reaching patients — part of what WHO calls chronic shortages still obstructing the restoration of health services.

Gaza Governance

Transitional Administration:

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) is designated as the Palestinian civilian administration for Gaza under the Gaza peace framework.

Head: Ali Shaath, Chief Commissioner of the NCAG.

International Oversight: The Board of Peace

The Board of Peace was established by UN Security Council Resolution 2803, adopted 17 November 2025, which gave it international legal personality and transitional administrative authority over Gaza. Its mandate runs to 31 December 2027 and requires further Security Council action to continue beyond that date.

• Chair: President Donald Trump, who heads the Board and its Executive Board/Committee — the Board’s primary strategic and decision-making body — with other members and heads of state to be announced (Tony Blair among those named).
• High Representative for Gaza: Nickolay Mladenov, the Bulgarian diplomat serving as the Board’s operational envoy on the ground, reporting to the Board.
• Gaza Executive Board, Board of Peace.
• Palestinian role: Resolution 2803 provides for a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” of qualified Palestinians and international experts to handle Gaza’s day-to-day governance — but this committee operates under the Board’s transitional authority and oversight, rather than sitting on the Board itself. Hamas and other factions are explicitly barred under the resolution from any role in Gaza’s governance, direct or indirect.
• Handover condition: the Board’s authority is to end once the Palestinian Authority “has satisfactorily completed” its reform programme and can securely and effectively retake control of Gaza — a judgement the resolution leaves to the Board itself.
• Britain and France voted for Resolution 2803 but have not joined the Board.

Current state of implementation (as of early October 2026): the transition remains stalled. Hamas has agreed to disarm on condition that Israeli forces withdraw, but Israel has not withdrawn; the technocratic Palestinian committee intended to administer Gaza under the Board’s oversight remains outside the Strip, in Cairo, after Israel denied it entry; and a group of Palestinian police recruits already vetted by Israel for training abroad have also been barred from leaving Gaza. High Representative Mladenov has said mediators have a “framework” to rebuild but that Hamas’s disarmament remains the precondition, and that the Board is “not bound by a calendar.” Separately, the Board unveiled a $2.4–2.45bn, six-month reconstruction blueprint in late September (see Key Developments).

Hamas:

In July 2025, Hamas announced it will transfer civilian and security governing authority to the NCAG. The transfer remains in progress, with the implementation of Hamas’ disarmament and the full establishment of NCAG authority still unresolved.

Hamas has traditionally organised its leadership across four pillars — Gaza, the West Bank, the diaspora/external leadership, and (historically) a prisoners’ portfolio. Israel’s assassination of most of the pre-war leadership has significantly reshaped this structure over the past two years:

• Overall Chairman of the Political Bureau: Khalil al-Hayya, elected 20 July 2026 (35–34 over Khaled Mashal), replacing the five-member collective leadership that governed since Yahya Sinwar’s death in October 2024. Formally based in Doha, Qatar, but widely described as Gaza’s de facto leader and remains Hamas’s lead ceasefire negotiator.
• Political leader inside Gaza: Ali al-Amoudi, a Sinwar ally released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, is the figure reported to be managing Hamas’s internal political affairs in Gaza following al-Hayya’s promotion. Hamas has not formally confirmed this appointment, deliberately keeping it ambiguous for security reasons.
• Diaspora/external leadership: Khaled Mashal, who lost the July 2026 leadership vote to al-Hayya, continues to lead Hamas’s operations and diplomacy abroad.
• West Bank / prisoners’ portfolio: Zaher Jabarin leads Hamas’s West Bank operations and also formally holds the “Office of Martyrs, Wounded, and Prisoners” portfolio — the closest surviving equivalent of the historic separate prisoners’ leadership.
• Military wing (Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades) commander: Mohammed Odeh — arguably the most operationally significant of these roles, given Hamas’s stated refusal to disarm. Odeh succeeded Izz al-Din al-Haddad after al-Haddad was killed in an Israeli airstrike on 15 May 2026, and previously commanded Hamas’s northern Gaza brigade. (On 29 September 2026, Israel killed Izz al-Din Al-Beik, described as head of Hamas’s armed wing specifically in northern Gaza — a subordinate command to Odeh’s strip-wide leadership of the Qassam Brigades — confirmed killed by both Israel and Hamas.)
• The Shura Council, headed by Muhammad Ismail Darwish (Abu Omar Hassan), functions as Hamas’s overarching consultative, legislative, and decision-making body, responsible for electing the group’s Political Bureau and charting its strategic direction. It is an institution rather than an operational command — its head is not comparable in day-to-day significance to the political and military figures above, and is listed here for completeness rather than as a power centre in its own right.

Palestinian Authority (PA):

The PA is the internationally recognised Palestinian governing authority, with a stated objective of eventually assuming governance responsibilities in Gaza. Under Resolution 2803, the Board of Peace’s handover of authority is explicitly conditioned on the PA “satisfactorily completing” its reform programme.

Upcoming Elections

Israel – Knesset Election

Next Scheduled Election: 27 October 2026

Palestine – Legislative Election

Next Scheduled Election: 28 November 2026

President Mahmoud Abbas affirmed plans to hold legislative elections on this date — the first Palestinian parliamentary vote in 20 years — in his pre-recorded UN General Assembly address on 24 September. The push comes alongside pressure from France and Saudi Arabia: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the vote “a way for the Palestinian people to express their legitimate aspiration to self-determination,” and France is also pressing for EU election observers to support the vote.

Significant doubts persist over whether the election will actually go ahead. Fatah officials cite Israel’s refusal to permit ballot boxes, papers and ink into Gaza, and Fatah itself has yet to finalise a candidate list amid calls from within the party for dialogue with other factions first. Hamas has confirmed it will participate, and is forming an electoral alliance with Islamic Jihad and a faction led by the UAE-based Mohammed Dahlan behind a “unified national list,” explicitly aimed at challenging Abbas’s Fatah.

West Bank Key Developments: 25 September–1 October

25 September: The UN human rights office adds 61 companies to its database of firms involved in illegal Israeli settlement activity, bringing the total to 214 across 11 countries (five previously-listed firms are removed). Most are Israeli, with others based in China, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, the US and the UK.

29 September: More than 100 settlers attack Jalud village as the Israeli military attempts to escort the Tubasi family back to the two homes settlers had seized from them weeks earlier. Settlers set both homes ablaze, block access roads, and hurl rocks, injuring three Israeli officers; two settlers are arrested, but the family’s return is abandoned amid the violence and troops evacuate them instead.

1 October: Israeli settlers attack Palestinian homes on the outskirts of Awarta, south of Nablus, under Israeli military protection, with troops firing live ammunition and tear gas; no casualties are immediately reported, though a 17-year-old is reported abducted during the Awarta attacks.

Also reported this week

Israeli forces carried out overnight raids and detentions across the West Bank through the week, including in Nablus, Jenin, Qalqilya and Hebron, alongside continued settler attacks on farmers and property — among them settlers releasing livestock onto Palestinian farmland in northeast Ramallah and obstructing access to groves as the olive harvest began.

From the NCF

NCF’s Latest Blog: The Inevitable Failure of the Board of Peace

NCF Research Officer, Maaria Ali, shares her personal view that the Board of Peace is doomed to fail.

Click to read.

NCF’s Recent Blog: Reconstruction for Gaza?

Abdelmohsen Farahat, an architect from Cairo closely associated with the Next Century Foundation, has drafted a plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Click to read.

Image featured above shows a father in Gaza carrying his two daughters on a bicycle as they return to school in Gaza for the first time in years.