Since the ceasefire came into force in the Gaza Strip, on October 10, Israeli troops have withdrawn to a security perimeter, which circumscribes the enclave, called the “yellow line”. It is a demarcated area that Palestinian inhabitants are prohibited from going to or even approaching. The punishment, as the Israeli army claims, is to fatally shoot “suspected” civilians. Although the demarcation is supposedly temporary, the population of Gaza is afraid that it will be consolidated as the territory’s new border.
The withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to the security perimeter in question is one of the conditions of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, negotiated with Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It is part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement; At a later stage, the IDF is expected to withdraw and gradually hand over the territory it occupies, because, according to the plan, Israel will neither occupy nor annex the Gaza Strip.
These temporary borders are becoming more consolidated because Israeli troops have installed yellow concrete markers every 200 meters to delimit the area where they are present and where the Palestinians cannot reach. However, these lines practically occupy half of the enclave, from north to south, restricting the population to a smaller area and corralling them against the sea to which they also have no access. There are Israeli media outlets, such as “Yedioth Ahronoth”, which already define the ceasefire line as “the new frontier”.
Furthermore, to make matters worse, the security perimeter is not always visible to residents. “In our area, the yellow lines are not clearly visible. We don’t know where they start or where they end. I think they are clearer in other places, but here nothing is defined”, told the newspaper “The Guardian” Mohammad Khaled Abu al-Hussain, a 31-year-old father of five children. His home is in al-Qarara, north of Khan Yunis and east of the yellow line.
“As soon as we get close to our houses, bullets start flying from all directions and, sometimes, small drones, quadcopters, hover over us, observing our every movement,” said the Palestinian. “Yesterday [sábado]I was with a friend when, suddenly, we were the target of intense gunfire. We threw ourselves on the ground and stayed there until the shooting stopped. I couldn’t get to my house.”
More than 100 dead in full ceasefire
Despite the truce agreement that is in force, the episodes of violence have not stopped. Around 100 civilians have been killed and another 230 injured since October 10. The IDF has launched attacks, bombings and shooting at civilians in different areas of the enclave, from the city of Gaza in the north to Khan Yunis in the south. Justifying itself, the IDF says it is targeting “suspects” who approach or cross the line, whether it is marked by yellow blocks or not.
Israel’s defense minister says the military can target anyone who approaches the security perimeter, but the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas considers this a violation of the agreement. Despite the attacks and the fact that the agreement is not going as it should, the truce continues to exist, at least in theory, as Donald Trump has already guaranteed.
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv continues to insist that it will maintain security control in the Strip. “Israel is an independent state. We will defend ourselves by our own means and will continue to determine our destiny. We do not seek anyone’s approval for this. We control our security,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel wants veto on members of international force
Also this Sunday, Netanyahu stated that he has veto power in relation to the members of the international force that Donald Trump is trying to form to protect the Gaza Strip in the post-war period. It was learned this Saturday that the United States is preparing a resolution to be presented at the United Nations to authorize the sending of a multinational force to the territory, within the scope of the ceasefire agreement.
“Many of the countries that expressed their intention to participate [em Gaza]whether economically, with personnel or both, they will need it [uma resolução da ONU] because their national laws require it, so we have an entire team working on it”, said US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, during his trip between Israel and Qatar.
Under President Trump’s plan, an international stabilization force, made up mainly of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, will be sent to Gaza as the army withdraws. However, the Israeli Prime Minister left a warning. “We make it clear, in relation to international forces, that Israel will decide which are unacceptable to us,” declared Netanyahu, who opposes the sending of forces by Turkey, a country with close ties to Hamas.
Hamas helps Red Cross search for hostages
The return of the Israeli hostages that Hamas kidnapped in the October 7, 2023 attack, in exchange for Palestinian detainees, is another of the conditions of the truce plan. So far, the terrorist group has handed over the 20 live hostages it had under its control, however, it has only returned the bodies of 15 of the 28 dead Israeli citizens. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hamas militants collaborated with the humanitarian organization in locating the remaining 13 bodies of murdered hostages who remain in Gaza.
Hamas’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Haya, had already announced that the Islamist group would enter new areas of the Gaza Strip to look for bodies still under the rubble, so as to “not give Israel a pretext to resume the war”. On the Israeli side, Government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian stated that “Hamas knows where the hostages are” and that “if it made more effort, it could recover the remains”.
Shosh Bedrosian also detailed that the Israeli Prime Minister authorized the entry of an Egyptian team and Red Cross agents “beyond the yellow line”, to support the search for the bodies of the hostages. The Egyptian team is made up exclusively of technical personnel, with no military presence.