IOF Chief Labels Gaza’s Yellow Line as ‘New Border’

Speaking to reserve soldiers inside the Strip, Zamir said the IOF maintain operational control over large areas of Gaza and intend to remain positioned along those security lines.

He described the so-called Yellow Line, the point behind which IOF redeployed under the US-brokered ceasefire, as both a forward secure perimeter for nearby settlements and a zone for continued military activity.

The comments reflect the occupation’s view of the line as a long-term land grab and ethnic cleansing rather than a temporary positioning measure as defined by the previously agreed deal.

Under the ceasefire terms negotiated with US mediation, IOF pulled back to positions behind the so-called Yellow Line while the broader framework for the agreement continues to be implemented.

Zamir’s declaration exposes the occupation’s real objective: transforming what was supposed to be a temporary redeployment line into a de facto border that cements territorial theft.

By reframing the “Yellow Line” as a permanent frontier, the "Israeli" entity signals a long-term project of land seizure, demographic engineering, and the incremental annexation of Gaza, an extension of its broader expansionist doctrine masked as ceasefire compliance.

The IOF command gave in October orders to physically fortify and formally mark the ceasefire “yellow line” inside the Gaza Strip, erecting outposts, two-storey sand berms, barbed wire, and yellow concrete markers while deploying drones and armored units in the area, The Wall Street Journal [WSJ] reported.

The WSJ visited an "Israeli" outpost on high ground overlooking the destroyed neighborhood of Shujaiyah, east of Gaza City, and described a two-storey berm topped with barbed wire, a sandy two-car road running beneath a shorter berm, and drones buzzing overhead.

The IOF is reported to be laying yellow-painted concrete blocks along the demarcation, and military officials told the paper that only about 10 to 20% of that marking work is complete. The line, created under the recent US-brokered arrangement, is being manned with existing outposts and newly erected positions, with troops and tanks arrayed behind sand berms.

A previous report by the WSJ had highlighted how the plan to split Gaza into two and rebuild the areas behind the so-called yellow line had been suggested by US special envoy Jared Kushner and US Vice President JD Vance.

Since the so-called ceasefire, "Israeli" attacks have continued to kill hundreds of Palestinians, including children, with reports indicating at least 370–375 deaths and an average of eight civilians killed daily, exposing the ceasefire as ineffective in protecting Gaza’s population.

Among the many executed civilians are brothers Fadi and Jomaa Tamer Abu Assi, aged 8 and 11, who were killed by an "Israeli" drone strike on November 29 near the so-called “yellow line”, an unmarked "Israeli"-made boundary near their home in the northern Gaza Strip.

The strike targeted the children as they attempted to return to their house, located within a so-called “red zone,” only a short distance from where they had been standing.

The arbitrary “yellow line” cited by the IOF does not physically exist on the ground and is incomprehensible to civilians, particularly children, who continue to suffer the consequences of its enforcement.