Maps show how Israel’s ‘Yellow Line’ keeps squeezing Palestinians in Gaza

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces have continued to expand their control inside Gaza despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire arrangement tied to the so-called “Yellow Line.” The article says the line originally marked the area Israeli troops withdrew to under Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, but that the boundary has since shifted westward in several places, including in Shujayea in eastern Gaza City, where yellow blocks were moved and families were pushed out again.

According to the report, access is now restricted across about 65 percent of Gaza, leaving roughly 2.1 million Palestinians confined to the remaining 35 percent of the territory. Al Jazeera says this has concentrated the population into an increasingly overcrowded area, with severe damage to housing, farmland and basic infrastructure. The article cites UN and research-group estimates indicating widespread destruction, limited usable cropland and growing obstacles for aid agencies trying to move people before the rainy season.

The piece places the situation in broader context by contrasting Gaza before the war, during the first phase of the ceasefire, and now. It notes that Gaza had already been under blockade since 2007 and that the war beginning in October 2023 caused mass displacement and large-scale deaths. Al Jazeera says the remaining space is under intense pressure, and that approaching the Yellow Line can be deadly because Israeli forces treat areas beyond it as a free-fire zone.