Along Israel’s expanding Yellow Line, the war in Gaza never ended
A yellow concrete block placed by the Israeli army is seen east of Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, 2 November 2025
Ruwaida Amer reports in +972 on 5 December 2025:
Since the illusory ceasefire took hold in Gaza, the lives of Palestinians in the Strip have been dictated by an imaginary line drawn up by the Israeli army. Crossing this “Yellow Line,” which indicates the boundary of Israel’s occupation of ethnically cleansed areas spanning more than half of Gaza, constitutes a death sentence — even for children collecting firewood for their wheelchair-bound father. Yet not only is it poorly demarcated; it is also continuously expanding.
Residents describe a reality in which supposedly safe neighborhoods are transformed overnight into active frontlines, with no warning. On Nov. 20, Israeli forces advanced a further 300 meters into the neighborhood of Al-Tuffah in northeastern Gaza City, forcing residents to flee for their lives despite the ceasefire that was supposed to guarantee their safety. Now, there are growing fears among residents further west, in areas considered outside the immediate zone of danger, that they, too, may soon be forced out.
“They shelled the area and forced us to flee before nightfall,” Basem Badir, 28, from Al-Tuffah, recalled of the day of the incursion. In the days prior, he had seen Israeli military vehicles nearby “carrying out demolition and bulldozing operations.”
Like many others in the area, Badir’s family fled west. When he returned two days later to check on their home, it was unreachable: The concrete blocks demarcating the Yellow Line had moved, and “quadcopters were firing at anyone who approached them.”
“We feel that the war is continuing,” Badir told +972. “The area is never safe, and people have been fleeing it for days.”
The situation escalated again on Dec. 1, when Israeli forces began shelling homes near the Sinafur intersection, trapping several families and wounding dozens of people. Residents appealed to the Civil Defense and humanitarian agencies for help, but they were unable to reach the besieged families due to ongoing shelling.