Map Shows Israel's 'Yellow Line' Is Squeezing Palestinians Into Shrinking Gaza

Israel has expanded its military presence across the Gaza Strip, forcing Palestinians to crowd into an increasingly small slice of the devastated territory. Nearly two-thirds of Gaza is now under Israeli military control or subject to access restrictions.

The "Yellow Line" was originally established under US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan to end the war, marking the area from which Israeli forces made an initial withdrawal. Under the plan, Israel was expected to pull back further in stages, but in practice it has seized additional areas.

On Sunday, Israeli forces moved yellow concrete blocks dozens of metres west in Shujayea, a neighbourhood in the southeast of Gaza City, forcing Palestinian families to leave and bringing more of the district under Israeli military control.

"The issue is not only where the Yellow Line is now, but where it could move next," Al Jazeera correspondent Ibrahim al-Khalili reported from Gaza City. "For families who have been displaced multiple times over the past three years, the situation remains brutal, and they are forced to make an impossible decision about where to go."

More than 90 percent of Gaza's 2.1 million residents have been forced from their homes since Israel launched its military campaign on October 7, 2023, after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Gaza before the war

Before the war, Palestinians were spread across the 365-square-kilometre Gaza Strip, about 41 kilometres long and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide. It was one of the most densely populated places on earth, at roughly 6,000 people per square kilometre, comparable to Nairobi or London. Each person had about 160 square metres of land on average.

Even then, not all of Gaza was accessible. Israel maintained a buffer zone along the fence with Israel, and Palestinians who approached risked being shot. In 2010, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that restricted areas accounted for 17 percent of Gaza's territory and 35 percent of its agricultural land. Gaza has been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since 2007.

Gaza at the 'ceasefire'

Under the first phase of the "ceasefire," Israeli forces were required to withdraw to the "Yellow Line" within 24 hours, followed by a 72-hour phase for the handover of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Trump first published the map of the line on Truth Social.

The line left Israel in control of 53 percent of the strip, mostly agricultural and border areas in the east, while pushing Palestinians into the remaining 47 percent, about 172 square kilometres. By October 2025, two years of war had killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, with tens of thousands more leaving the territory, reducing Gaza's population to about 2.1 million.

Pushed into less than half of Gaza's territory under the "ceasefire," population density doubled to about 12,000 people per square kilometre, comparable to New York. Each person had only about 82 square metres.

Gaza today

Since the "ceasefire," Israeli forces have repeatedly moved the yellow concrete blocks marking the "Yellow Line" further west, sometimes overnight, expanding the areas under their control. Satellite imagery has also recorded continued demolition activity in Israeli-controlled areas.

The research group Forensic Architecture estimated that Israel controlled 58 percent of Gaza as of December. By March, the Israeli military sent aid organisations a map of a new "orange line," a restricted zone beyond the "Yellow Line" where all humanitarian activity must be coordinated with the military.

According to OCHA, restrictions now cover 65 percent of Gaza. A UN official told the Security Council in June that Israel claimed control of about 70 percent of the territory.

That leaves 2.1 million people living in about 35 percent of the strip, or 128 square kilometres. Population density has nearly tripled compared with before the war, to about 16,000 people per square kilometre, close to central Tokyo.

Each person now has only about 61 square metres of land for all needs: shelter, roads, schools, hospitals and farmland. Unlike Tokyo, Gaza has almost no space left to accommodate housing. The UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) found that 82 percent of buildings in the strip have been damaged or destroyed. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization says only 3 percent of Gaza's farmland is both undamaged and accessible.

OCHA says the remaining 35 percent of Gaza is "overwhelmed," and that access restrictions are the main obstacle as aid groups try to relocate families before the rainy season. According to the United Nations, more than 950,000 people live in shelters at risk of flooding, most of them in tents and makeshift accommodation.

Approaching the "Yellow Line" can be life-threatening. Israel treats areas beyond the line as a free-fire zone, and Palestinians who come close have been shot. Nearly 1,500 people have been killed across Gaza since the ceasefire was announced.