GAZA: On a road in Gaza City’s Zeitoun district, Palestinian resident Assem Dawla loaded mattresses and bags onto a truck as concrete yellow blocks marking the edge of Israel’s expanding military zone stood amid the rubble nearby.
He said it was the seventh or eighth time since the war began that he and his family had been forced to leave a shelter because of Israeli evacuation orders and the advance of what residents call the yellow line.
Zeitoun is one of at least five locations across Gaza where residents and Hamas officials say Israel has expanded areas under its control in recent days by moving forward the yellow line, a military demarcation established under a US-brokered ceasefire reached in October.
HIGHLIGHT
Residents said that Israeli forces have advanced the yellow block markers during the past 10 days, triggering new waves of displacement in areas already devastated by months of conflict.
As men hoisted belongings onto a waiting truck, elderly relatives picked their way through debris. Continued Israeli military activity made it too dangerous to remain, Dawla said.
“We are taking our belongings out and going to leave the place because the occupation (Israel) has moved the yellow line all the way to Salah Al-Din Street,” he said.
With the October ceasefire, President Donald Trump set out a peace plan for Gaza that largely halted major fighting after two years of devastating Israeli war in Gaza triggered by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel.
The plan called for a surge in humanitarian aid, governance by a civilian Palestinian administration, the disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the deployment of an international force to help maintain security.But progress has stalled.
Israel effectively controlled an estimated 64 percent of Gaza by late April. Nearly all of the territory’s roughly 2 million residents are concentrated in a narrow coastal area under Hamas control, living largely in damaged buildings or makeshift shelters and facing dire humanitarian conditions.
Hamas has so far refused to disarm, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 28 that Israel intends to expand the area under its control to 70 percent of the enclave. Israeli forces have continued near-daily military strikes across Gaza.
Residents in Deir Al-Balah, Khan Younis, Gaza City’s Zeitoun, Tuffah and Shejaia neighbourhoods, as well as northern Rafah, said that Israeli forces have advanced the yellow block markers during the past 10 days, triggering new waves of displacement in areas already devastated by months of conflict.
At least seven people said residents in some affected areas received warnings via text messages or drone-mounted loudspeakers before leaving once again.
The Israeli military said its forces are deployed in Gaza to protect Israel from attack and that the yellow line was being clearly marked on the ground to reduce the risk of contact between troops and civilians.
“IDF’s (Israel Defense Forces) defensive posture in the area includes a security zone, a physical barrier, intelligence capabilities, technological means, and operational activity by IDF troops,” the military said.
