Israel’s ‘yellow line’ in Gaza creeps westward, causing families to flee again
Large yellow concrete blocks placed by the Israeli army to mark the area under its control
Sally Ibrahim reports in The New Arab on 17 June 2026:
As regional powers and international diplomats focus on the implications of the recent US-Iran ceasefire and the prospect of all-out violence, residents of eastern Gaza City are confronting a very different reality.
Over recent nights, Israeli forces have expanded what Palestinians refer to as the so-called “yellow line”, a self-declared zone by Israel marked by large yellow concrete blocks that delineate areas under Israeli military control.
Separately speaking with The New Arab, residents in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood said recent advances have displaced dozens of families and raised fears that the area is becoming part of an expanding buffer zone.
Israeli tanks moved concrete barriers westward in the Sanfoura area east of Gaza City, with artillery and military activity, forcing the families near Salah al-Din Street to abandon their homes multiple times since the war began, according to Mohammed Asfour, a resident in the area.
He told TNA that the recent expansion extended the line roughly 300 metres west, bringing Israeli-controlled zones closer to densely populated residential areas.
For many residents, the advance came without warning. “We left under fire,” Mohammed Ayad, 48, who fled the Sanfoura area with his wife and six children, told TNA.