Israel has expanded its military occupation in the Gaza Strip in violation of a United States-brokered ‘ceasefire’, forcing Palestinians into an ever-smaller share of the besieged territory, devastated by Israel’s ongoing genocidal war.
asserted
Israel → expand → war
The original ‘Yellow Line’, established under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war, marked the area to which Israeli forces initially withdrew.
asserted
forces → establish → which
They were expected to make further withdrawals gradually, but instead, they have seized more territory.
asserted
they → expect → territory
On Sunday, Israeli forces moved yellow concrete blocks dozens of metres west in Shujayea, a neighbourhood in southeastern Gaza City, forcing Palestinian families to flee and bringing more of the neighbourhood under Israeli military control.
asserted
forces → move → control
“It’s not simply about where the ‘Yellow Line’ is today but where it can move next,” Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili said, reporting from Gaza City.
asserted
Khalili → ’ → City
“For families who have been repeatedly displaced in the past three years, the situation remains dire, and they have to make the impossible decision of where they can go.”
asserted
they → displace → decision
More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.1 million population has been forcibly displaced by Israel’s war, launched on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
asserted
percent → displace → Israel
Using maps, Al Jazeera shows how much of Gaza Israel has grabbed since the ‘ceasefire’.
asserted
Israel → use → ceasefire
Before the war, Palestinians were spread across the Gaza Strip, a 365sq km (141sq-mile) territory roughly 41km (25 miles) long and from 6km to 12km (4 to 7 miles) wide.
asserted
Palestinians → spread → km
That made it one of the most densely populated places on Earth with about 6,000 people per square kilometre, similar to Nairobi or London.
asserted
it → make → Nairobi
Each person had, on average, about 160sq metres (1,722sq ft) of land.
asserted
person → have → land
Israel enforced a buffer zone along the fence with Israel, and Palestinians who approached it risked being shot.
asserted
who → enforce → it
In 2010, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that the restricted area covered 17 percent of Gaza’s land and 35 percent of its farmland.
asserted
area → estimate → farmland
Under the first phase of the “ceasefire”, Israeli forces were to withdraw to the “Yellow Line” within 24 hours, after which a 72-hour period began for the handover of Israeli captives held in Gaza.
asserted
period → withdraw → Gaza
Trump first published a map of the line on his Truth Social platform.
asserted
Trump → publish → platform
The line left Israel in control of 53 percent of the Strip, mostly farmland and border areas in the east, and confined Palestinians to the remaining 47 percent, about 172sq km (66sq miles).
asserted
line → leave → percent
By October 2025, two years of war had killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, and tens of thousands more had left the territory, reducing Gaza’s population to about 2.1 million.
asserted
thousands → kill → million
Pushed into less than half of Gaza’s territory under the “ceasefire”, its density doubled to about 12,000 people per square kilometre, comparable to New York City.
asserted
density → push → City
Each person was left with about 82sq metres (883sq ft).
asserted
person → leave → metres
Since the “ceasefire”, Israeli forces have repeatedly moved the yellow concrete blocks marking the “Yellow Line” farther west, sometimes overnight, expanding the areas under their control.
asserted
forces → move → control
Satellite imagery has also documented continued demolitions in areas held by Israeli forces.
asserted
imagery → document → forces
The research group Forensic Architecture estimated that Israel controlled 58 percent of Gaza by December.
asserted
Israel → estimate → December
In March, the Israeli military sent aid agencies maps of a new “orange line”, a restricted zone beyond the “Yellow Line” where humanitarian movements must be coordinated with the army.
asserted
movements → send → army
According to OCHA, restrictions now cover 65 percent of Gaza.
uncertain
restrictions → accord → Gaza
Israel itself said it controls about 70 percent of the territory, a UN official told the Security Council in June.
asserted
official → say → June
That leaves 2.1 million people in about 35 percent of the Strip, roughly 128sq km (49sq miles).
asserted
That → leave → Strip
The population density has nearly tripled since before the war to about 16,000 people per square kilometre, close to central Tokyo.
asserted
density → triple → Tokyo
Each person now has about 61sq metres (657sq ft) of land for everything: shelter, roads, schools, hospitals and farmland.
asserted
person → have → everything
Unlike Tokyo, Gaza has little space left to house its people.
asserted
Gaza → have → people
The UN Satellite Centre, UNOSAT, found 82 percent of structures in the Strip are damaged or destroyed.
asserted
percent → find → Strip
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says only 3 percent of Gaza’s cropland is both undamaged and accessible.
asserted
percent → say → cropland
OCHA says the remaining 35 percent of Gaza is “already overcrowded” and access restrictions are a key obstacle as aid groups try to relocate families before the rainy season.
asserted
groups → say → season
More than 950,000 people live in displacement sites at risk of flooding, according to the UN, most of them in tents and makeshift shelters, as seen in the satellite image below.
uncertain
most → live → image
Approaching the ‘Yellow Line” can be deadly.
asserted
Approaching → approach → Line
Israel treats areas beyond it as a free-fire zone, and Palestinians who come near it have been shot.
asserted
who → treat → it
Nearly 1,500 people have been killed across Gaza since the ceasefire was announced.
asserted
ceasefire → kill → Gaza
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