US plan in Gaza: forced ghettoisation, annexation, mass detention, resource plunder
A concrete block marking the ‘Yellow Line’ drawn by the Israeli military in Bureij, central Gaza, 4 November 2025
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor writes on 3 December 2025:
The consequences of the US plan to support dividing the Gaza Strip into green and red zones separated by a yellow military line carry grave risks, including the effective displacement of Palestinians from their homes and the transformation of large parts of Gaza into closed military zones under the direct control of the Israeli army.
This plan entrenches long-term illegal control and the forcible de facto annexation of territory. It imposes unlawful collective imprisonment on the civilian population, in clear violation of international law and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
Preliminary information indicates that the US plan for the Gaza Strip, being developed through the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), is based on imposing a rigid geographical separation system that divides Gaza into population blocks and closed military zones.
Accordingly, more than half of the Gaza Strip is effectively designated as a closed military zone under the direct control of the Israeli army. Within this area, strict control and management systems are imposed through severe restrictions on movement, the regulation of aid and basic services, and the deprivation of fundamental rights. These measures are used as tools of coercion to force the population to leave their homes and relocate to designated “safe” areas within the same closed zone, without any genuine option to remain or return.
The first phase of the plan divides the Gaza Strip into a red zone covering 47 per cent, which contains most of the civilian population, and a green zone covering 53 per cent, which is under full Israeli military control and where armed groups established and armed by Israel are deployed. The two zones will be separated by a yellow line designated as a military buffer area, in which Israeli forces will apply a shoot-to-kill policy against anyone who approaches or attempts to cross it.
The yellow line, marked by concrete blocks, has not remained fixed but has been pushed beyond the published maps, advancing in some areas by more than one kilometre inside the Gaza Strip. It is used to unilaterally redraw lines of military control, gradually expanding areas under direct Israeli authority, placing additional territory under closed military rule, and severely restricting freedom of movement. This practice entrenches de facto annexation and fragments Gaza’s territorial unity in clear violation of international law.
The plan intersects with Israeli efforts to impose full control over the Gaza Strip’s coastline, designated on the plan’s map as a “red zone,” and to transform it into a closed area under direct Israeli security and economic domination. This would effectively place Gaza’s maritime resources, including fishing waters, gas fields, and existing and potential coastal infrastructure, under Israeli control.
This approach constitutes an illegal seizure and systematic plundering of the resources of an occupied territory. It contradicts the established principle in international law regarding the permanent sovereignty of peoples over their natural resources, and the obligations of the occupying power not to seize public or private property and not to exploit the natural resources of the occupied territory for its exclusive benefit, especially when this is done within the framework of long-term arrangements that undermine the Palestinian people’s right to manage their own resources and maritime domain.
According to information obtained by Euro Med Monitor, the plan is based on transferring the Palestinian population from the red zone to the green zone through various pressure tactics. This is done by creating a coercive environment in the red zone and making access to relative protection and basic services conditional on relocating to designated areas within the green zone, following extensive security screening and vetting. This removes any genuine element of consent and places the process squarely within the scope of forced displacement prohibited under international humanitarian law.