Just over a month ago, Israel released new maps of the Gaza Strip that placed thousands of displaced Palestinians inside an expanded no-go zone, within boundaries that the military says it can continue to change. While the Israeli army refrained from commenting when asked whether the yellow line had moved forward.

Published on: 04/29/2026 - 22:42 Last updated: 04/29/2026 - 22:52

The no-go zone in the Gaza Strip, marked on maps with an orange line, constitutes an estimated 11 percent of Gaza's territory located outside the "yellow line" that defines the part of Gaza that Israeli forces have occupied since the ceasefire last October. These areas surround approximately two-thirds of Gaza's territory in total.

Two relief sources revealed that the Israeli army sent the maps to relief organizations in Gaza in mid-March, but did not publish them publicly.

"restricted area"

For its part, Israel says that the area between the orange line and the yellow armistice line, to which its forces withdrew under the October agreement, is a prohibited area to enable the delivery of aid, and that relief organizations must coordinate their movements with the army. It says that civilians are not affected by this measure.

The expanded area has raised fears among displaced Palestinians living there that Israel will target them and shoot them. It also raised concerns that Israel may plan to retain the area permanently.

Israeli officials describe the lands they seized in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon as “buffer zones” that can ward off attacks by militants following the attack led by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, 2023, which sparked the Gaza war.

As for Netanyahu, he stated in a video statement issued on March 31, saying, “More than half of the territory of the Gaza Strip is under Israeli control. We are the ones who attack and take the initiative, and we are the ones who surprise our enemies.”

Doubts about Trump's plan

However, the expansion of Israel's control beyond the line agreed upon under the ceasefire, which was brokered by the United States in October, casts more doubts on US President Donald Trump's plan regarding Gaza, the completion of which was postponed for months due to the war on Iran and disagreements regarding the disarmament of Hamas fighters.

It also expands the area in which the Israeli army says it can operate and launch bloody attacks on Palestinians, without marking the ground. The ceasefire line was marked in October with concrete blocks painted yellow. Reuters previously reported that Israel moved these blocs deep into territory controlled by Hamas.

What are the limits of the "orange line"?

In addition, in its first public comment regarding the expanded zone, the Israeli Government Coordination Unit in the Territories, the military agency that controls access to Gaza, said that it had identified areas adjacent to the yellow line in which international organizations, including relief organizations, must coordinate their movements with the army.

She added, "Boundaries are being set for these areas (the orange line), which require coordination and updating according to an assessment of the operational situation, with the aim of enabling humanitarian activities while protecting individuals in a complex operational environment."

However, the unit declined to comment when asked how frequently it updates and distributes maps to relief organizations showing the Orange Line borders, and whether it has informed Palestinian civilians of those borders.

The two sources from relief organizations, who work in Gaza, said that the army initially sent the organizations a map showing an expanded area beyond the yellow line after the ceasefire in October. They added that this map was published by organizations, including UNICEF, but not by the army.

The two sources sent pictures of the map to Reuters, but they refused to publish it directly. They said that the army sent the organizations an updated version of the map in mid-March. The new map shows the yellow line and the expanded area is marked with an orange line.

Reuters shared the images with Palestinian researchers who combined the two lines on a single map. The yellow line has moved to include the original expanded area, while the orange line demarcates the boundaries of a larger restricted zone, the two relief sources said.

“Collecting the Palestinians to expel them”

In turn, the Israeli army refrained from commenting when asked whether the yellow line had moved forward, but said that “the area adjacent to the yellow line is a sensitive and dangerous operational environment” and that “there are signs in the area indicating that it is prohibited to approach it.”

In this regard, Jad Ishaq, Director-General of the Institute for Applied Research in Jerusalem, an independent Palestinian research center in the occupied West Bank, said that this effectively means Israel’s control over at least 64 percent of Gaza, as almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip, numbering about two million people, is crowded on a narrow coastal strip of territory controlled by Hamas.

Ishaq added, "They want to cram the largest possible number of Palestinians into the smallest possible space to expel them, given the lack of any feasibility or sustainability for what remains of Gaza."

It is noteworthy that behind the yellow line, Israel forced civilians to displace and demolished most of the remaining buildings at a time when the United States and the UAE developed development plans for the sector.

Director General of the Network of Non-Governmental Organizations in Gaza, Amjad Shawa, said that the additional line of control caused a state of confusion and anxiety.

Shawa added, "People do not know where the lines begin. One time the borders of the line are in a certain place, and the next day they are in another place without any warning or notice."

Israeli officials, including Minister Bezalel Smotrich, called on the Palestinians to leave Gaza, which reinforced fears among Arab countries that Israel seeks to displace the Palestinians from their lands on which they aspire to establish their state.

France 24/Reuters

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