Israel’s Yellow Line in Gaza advances, leaving displaced with nowhere to go

Shujayea, Gaza Strip – Mahmoud Harzeen is pitching a tent about 200 metres from the yellow concrete blocks marking Israel’s so-called Yellow Line, preparing for his sixth move.

Each time the line inches closer, the 35-year-old packs up and moves further back, trying to keep his family away from danger. But every move offers only temporary relief.

“Every time they move forward a little, we move back a little,” Harzeen told Al Jazeera.

The Yellow Line divided Gaza’s territory between Israeli and Palestinian control as part of the October 2025 “ceasefire” agreement.

Israeli forces withdrew behind the line, but have continued to move the demarcation deeper into Gaza. They now control about 65 percent of Gaza, according to the United Nations, up from the 53 percent agreed a year ago.

On October 11, Israeli forces moved the yellow concrete blocks dozens of metres westward in Shujayea, in eastern Gaza City. More of the neighbourhood was brought under Israeli military control and Palestinian families were forced to flee again, with Israel’s shifting boundaries further restricting where they can live and move.

For Harzeen, who supports a family of 10, the latest move is part of a year-long search for somewhere his family can live.

He can’t remember the dates of each displacement. Instead, he recalled the places, one after another: Zeitoun, Sahat al-Shawa, al-Muntazah.

“About six times – every time the line advanced a little – I would feel that it was dangerous, so I would move back a little and try to live there for a while,” he explained.

His most recent move barely lasted one night. After spending time setting up the tent, he slept in it once before Israeli forces moved the Yellow Line forward again, getting too close for Harzeen’s liking.

“I pitched the tent and slept in it for one night,” he said. “The next morning, we took our bedding and our things and left.”

The threat extends beyond the movement of the blocks themselves. Harzeen described living amid drones, helicopters, artillery fire and stray bullets, with shrapnel posing a constant danger to people sheltering nearby.

The nights when the line advances are particularly frightening, he said, recalling tanks, troops and heavy shelling as the blocks were moved.

Israel has continued its attacks despite the “ceasefire”, killing nearly 1,500 Palestinians in the last year. Israel has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians since the war started in October 2023.

“The night they move the line, there are tanks, infantry coming down, and shells being fired,” he said. “All of that happens just so they can move the yellow block a little further forward.”

Most people in Gaza have been displaced multiple times as a result of Israel’s genocidal war and the accompanying large scale destruction of buildings across the enclave. That leaves little space to pitch tents in safer areas and soaring rent that Harzeen can’t afford.

Now he is preparing for the possibility of moving again. “They will probably move it forward again,” he said. “Every time we have to flee, we have to move closer to it. We keep moving.”

Fleeing at night, returning in the morning

For Asma Ali, 32, the Yellow Line’s advance has turned displacement into a cycle of fleeing at night and returning in the morning, never knowing how long her family can stay in one place.

Ali, a mother of three from Shujayea, said her family has been displaced seven or eight times since the ceasefire began.

After staying in central Gaza City, they returned to Shujayea hoping to settle in the al-Mantar area. But then, a month later, renewed shelling and evacuation fears forced them to move again.

The family sought shelter at a school before moving to a house near a bus stop. After a night of heavy shelling, they left in the early hours of the morning and went to stay with family back in the centre of Gaza City. But the advance of the Yellow Line has left Ali uncertain about where her family could go next.

“Every night, we would flee, then come back in the morning,” Ali said. “You spend the night trying to find somewhere to stay, then return the next morning.”

“The night the Yellow Line advances is terrifying,” she said. “The shooting continues from the beginning of the night until dawn. You live in fear.”

Ali said her family lost their belongings – including gold, household items and her children’s clothes – when the dwelling they were staying in was destroyed.

Among the items lost was a brace for her son, who has a disability. She only had the brace for two days.

“It was gone in the blink of an eye,” she said.

The family has been trying to find somewhere safe to stay, but Ali said there is nowhere they can afford to go. Moving south is also difficult, with transport hard to find and little certainty that they will find a safe place there.

Asma’s request is simple: somewhere her children can sleep without the family having to flee again.

“The most important thing is somewhere safe for us,” she said. “Somewhere I can put my children and where we can rest and settle.”