Trump and Netanyahu carving up Gaza with expansion of ‘yellow line’

Under Phase One of Trump’s 20 Point ‘Peace Plan’ for Gaza, Israeli occupation forces withdrew to a pre-designated line, the ‘yellow line’.

Gaza ‘yellow line’

The yellow line separates Gaza into two zones, and has crammed more than two million Palestinians into a narrow coastal strip of land. The land to the West of the yellow line is controlled by Hamas. The land to the East is under the direct control of the Israel occupation’s military and, in October 2025, this area made up approximately 53 percent of the Gaza Strip.

The area occupied by the military is a no go area for Palestinians, who run the risk of being shot dead – and many have been – if they are found there.

But even now, the marking of the yellow line with physical markers has not been completed. Satellite imagery has also shown some of the marker blocks were moved more than half a kilometre outside the yellow line, to expand the area the military controls.

According to the UN human rights office, since the October ‘ceasefire’ around one third of all Palestinians killed by the occupation were in areas near the yellow line. The office warned the incidents could amount to unlawful killings and possible war crimes by ‘Israel.’

As part of its genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza, the Israeli occupation continues to dismantle the civilian infrastructure essential for the survival of the population. Throughout the ‘ceasefire’, everything left standing East of the yellow line has become a target of the Israeli occupation. Homes, shops, and other buildings continue to be flattened.

Occupation has no intention of leaving the Strip

The Israeli occupation has no intention of leaving Gaza and instead has been constructing a “multi-layered barrier” along the yellow line. When finished it will be composed of a deep trench, embankments, and earth mounds, along with 32 army outposts. There is no mechanism to inform Palestinians of changes to the route of the constantly shifting yellow line. Many residents wake up to find the position of the yellow line has changed while they slept. They are then on ‘the wrong side’, and risk being shot and killed.

In March 2025, aid organisations working in Gaza were given a map of the “orange line”. They were told this line marks the area where the movement of international organizations is prohibited without prior coordination with Israeli occupation authorities.

In January 2025, the UN stated that more than 14,000 households were located in the area between the Orange and yellow lines- now a no go area for Palestinians. According to UNRWA, 126 of its facilities are also in areas controlled by the Israeli occupation’s military.

The occupation sent aid agencies an updated map of the orange line, in March 2026. It deviates from the yellow line by an estimated 11 percent,  and, as the map shows, the Israeli occupation’s military now controls two thirds of Gaza.

Netanyahu has now ordered the occupation’s military to seize 70 percent of Gaza

But the Israeli occupation wants to continue stealing as such land in Gaza as possible, while the opportunity is still there. On 28 May, 2026, Netanyahu spoke at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement. He claimed he had ordered the occupation’s military to now seize 70 percent of the Gaza Strip. “We now control 60 percent of the territory in the strip…..My directive is to move to 70 percent,” he said.

In 2025, ‘defence’ minister Israel Katz announced the Israeli occupation’s Security Cabinet had approved the “Bureau of Voluntary Migration.” This would facilitate travel for those Palestinians wanting to take a one way journey out of Gaza.

On 27 May, 2026 Katz posted on X:

“The voluntary emigration plan from Gaza will be implemented-everything at the right timing and in the right manner.”

‘Voluntary emigration’ is ethnic cleansing

Human rights organisations warn the move is not voluntary migration. Instead, it is intended “to expel Gaza residents to third countries without the possibility of returning to their homeland in the future.”

Gaza’s population of over two million are squeezed into a narrow, overcrowded zone. The unsanitary conditions, and inadequate access to shelter, clean water, and nutritious food means disease is spreading and so are rats. Almost all of the population have been displaced. But many are unable to return to the area where their homes were, because they are to the East of the yellow line. Most of Gaza’s agricultural land is also in this area, so is controlled by the Israeli occupation.

Meanwhile the orange line continues to create problems for humanitarian access and delivery of aid, at a time when conditions remain desperate for the majority of Palestinians.

These conditions were intentionally created by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip, and they undermine the possibility of sustaining life. They are aimed at ethnically cleansing Gaza by forcibly transferring the population out of the enclave, and would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

What began as a temporary military line has become something much more permanent. With more land seized, more neighbourhoods erased, and more of the population forced into shrinking spaces, it is now becoming obvious to many that the yellow line is not about security at all, but about redrawing Gaza itself.

Featured image via Getty/David Silverman