Her daughter was killed by gunfire in Gaza school. For her and others, 6-month Israeli ceasefire isn’t working

Almost six months to the day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza, gunfire ripped through the tent where Ritaj Rihan’s third-grade class was studying.

The Education Ministry said the nine-year-old girl was shot and killed Thursday in front of her classmates, causing them “a strong psychological shock.” Palestinian health and education officials said Israeli forces were behind the shooting in Beit Lahia, a town in the northern Gaza Strip.

Also in shock was Ritaj’s mother, Ola Rihan, who welcomed a steady stream of mourners to the family’s tent Friday in between gasping breaths and sobs of sorrow.

Rihan told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife that her daughter was everything to her — “a piece of my heart.”

Tent schools like the one Ritaj attended have emerged from the rubble in Gaza as a symbol of the fragile hope Palestinians have for the future and the paralyzing fear they live with in the present — students can finally resume something resembling formal education, but there’s still no guarantee of safety. 

“If I had known that she would go to school and never come back, I wouldn’t have let her go,” Ola Rihan said. “I would have told her that I wanted her to stay.”

Palestinians and foreign aid workers say this kind of violence is typical in Gaza post ceasefire, with one doctor noting that although the intensity of the violence has let up slightly, airstrikes and gunfire continue to put residents in danger. Meanwhile, several humanitarian organizations assessing the progress of the ceasefire plan said in a recent report that six months on, “that hopeful promise remains largely unfulfilled.”  

CBC News reached out to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for comment. In a response on Whatsapp, the IDF said it was working to “dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities” but that it could not provide details about Ritaj Rihan’s death. 

“In stark contrast to Hamas’ intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm,” the response read.

Progress on surgeries, humanitarian aid

Dr. Jodie Pritchard, a Red Cross emergency physician working at the field hospital in Rafah, in southern Gaza, says that while things have calmed down during the ceasefire, her team is still busy. 

Because there are fewer patients as a result of mass casualty events, Pritchard says they have more time to do followup treatments — specifically on amputee patients who might have the opportunity to get prosthetics. 

“They’re starting to do some more complex repairs, such as revisions of amputations,” she said. 

The Kingston, Ont., native says that despite this, they still see deaths as well as patients injured in airstrikes and gunfire whose needs are massive.

“Most nights we hear gunfire, most mornings we wake up from gunfire,” she said. 

“And for us at the emergency department, we’re always just worried that means that we’re going to have a massive amount of people come into emergency.” 

Violence is not the only threat Palestinians face in the aftermath of war.

Although a global hunger monitor determined in December last year that there was no longer famine in the enclave after access to humanitarian aid and food improved following the ceasefire, it noted that the region was still at risk of famine through mid-April 2026.

The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli unit tasked with facilitating humanitarian initiatives in Gaza along with the international community, said Friday in a post on X that “hundreds of aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip” on Thursday via two crossings.

“We will continue to facilitate the entry of diverse aid into the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the needs raised by the UN and international organizations.”

However, the United Nations says humanitarian aid remains constrained, leaving people in dire conditions. Palestinians say they still struggle with shortages and that what is available is too expensive for anyone to afford.

‘Not a ceasefire in practice’

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also sounding the alarm about the ongoing hostilities and conditions in the enclave.

Five humanitarian organizations — including Oxfam, Save the Children and Refugees International — have come together to release a scorecard that assesses the progress of the ceasefire. Six months in, they’ve given it a failing grade.

“While the agreement secured the release of Israeli hostages and some Palestinian detainees and reduced the intensity of hostilities, attacks have continued and the broader framework has failed to address Gaza’s overlapping displacement and humanitarian crises in a meaningful and sustained fashion,” the report noted.

In their report, the NGOs said they scored the protection of civilians and the cessation of fighting as “fragile.”

Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, one of the NGOs behind the scorecard, says that “the killing continues, indiscriminate strikes continue.”

“So, there is not a ceasefire in practice in Gaza today,” he said during an online media briefing on Thursday. “The violence has reduced, it is not what it was during some of the peaks of the war, but there’s no way to look at the level of violence in Gaza today and call that a ceasefire.” 

Under the deal put in place last October, Israel still occupies more than half of the Gaza Strip. Nearly all buildings in the Israeli-controlled sector have been levelled and residents displaced.

That leaves virtually the entire population of more than two million people confined to about a third of Gaza’s territory, mostly in makeshift tents and damaged buildings, where life has resumed under an administration led by Hamas.

According to the NGO report, since the ceasefire took effect, more than 700 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 180 children as of April 3. As well, it says militants have killed four Israeli soldiers in the same period.

Journalists ‘feel threatened and afraid’   

On Thursday, hundreds gathered in the Al-Salatin area of northern Gaza to mourn Muhammad Washah, the 262nd journalist killed since the beginning of the war.

The Al Jazeera journalist was killed on Wednesday when his car was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

In a statement, the IDF claimed Washah operated as a journalist as a cover for his illicit activities with Hamas militants and “posed a threat to forces in the area.”  

“Throughout the war, Washah was involved in the production of drones, rockets, and additional weaponry, and also took part in the transfer of weapons through the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a Telegram post on Thursday that Israel had been deliberately targeting journalists in the enclave since the beginning of the war. 

“Some of these cases are the subject of a complaint filed before the International Criminal Court,” the IFJ said. 

Talal al-Arouqi, Washah’s colleague who was at the funeral, told CBC News that although being a journalist in Gaza is scary, it won’t stop them from doing their jobs.

“We feel threatened and afraid here, but this will not prevent us from transferring the picture and the message.”