Israel's yellow line in Gaza is moving, expanding IDF's control, visual investigation shows

Israeli forces feature pushed the so-called yellowness run along, which delineates the parts of Gaza below their verify, expanding it well beyond the boundaries established in the October 2025 peace plan proposed by the U.S.

"If Palestinians approach the blocks, they will be shot at," said Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the school of security studies at King's College London, in the U.K.

Between last October and early April, the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory verified the deaths of 196 Palestinians killed in IDF attacks reported near the yellow line, including 18 women and 43 children.

Gaza has become frozen in 'humanitarian purgatory' — and it could get worse

"These rules are consistent with international law, and the IDF operates only against hostile elements while taking feasible precautions to mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians."

Investigating Israel’s deadly, shifting 'yellow line'

Last October, the IDF announced it was placing yellow concrete blocks every 200 metres along the line in order "to establish tactical clarity on the ground." The head of the country’s military called it the "new border."

⭕️IDF troops have begun marking the Yellow Line in Gaza to establish tactical clarity on the ground.<br><br>As part of the ceasefire agreement and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon, the marking consists of a concrete barrier placed approx. Every 200 meters with… <a href="https://t.co/76GaFg66cG">pic.twitter.com/76GaFg66cG</a>

The Israeli military controls the area to the east of the yellow line, while the area to the west is governed by Hamas. The line extends between 1.5 km and 6.5 km into Gaza from the enclave's eastern boundary with Israel, according to Israeli military maps.

The original line put Israel in control of a little more than half of Gaza. But since the ceasefire was announced, the shifting line means Israel now controls approximately 60 per cent of the territory, the IDF recently confirmed. Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expand the zone to 70 per cent.

This puts the yellow line right next to a crucial transportation route that stretches across the Gaza Strip.

The shared image shows the distinctive yellow block in a nondescript field bounded by a brick wall, with a destroyed warehouse in the background.

The block was placed near the entrance to two major refugee camps, Nuseirat and Al-Bureij, and the intersection with Al-Dawa Street, which leads to the Gaza power station.

"Controlling the Salah al-Din Road is part of the IDF's interest in terms of carving up the territory, making it easier for the IDF to control movement of people and thereby also impose what is, effectively, now an illegal occupation," Krieg said.

Krieg said the placement of the blocks has created a buffer zone, but Palestinians approaching it from the Hamas-controlled west are risking their lives.

"If Palestinians enter this buffer zone, they basically risk being shot — not just shot at but actually shot," Krieg said. "So it has become somewhat of a kill zone."

The aid group Doctors Without Borders has similarly called the yellow line a "kill zone."

Palestinians in Gaza have told international media the shifting line can put them in danger overnight, as they find themselves suddenly within the Israeli zone of control.

The enforcement of the line is volatile. Palestinians have been pictured standing on or near the concrete blocks, while others — including a three-year-old boy — have been shot while in a safe area close to the line, according to NBC News.

"The yellow line is being fortified with military infrastructure and materialized as a physical border, threatening to make permanent the concentration of 2.1 million Palestinians on less than half of Gaza's land," said Ray Adams Row Farr, research editor on the Gaza team at Forensic Architecture, a research agency based out of Goldsmiths, University of London U.K.

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