Israel's Yellow Line in Gaza Advances, Leaving Displaced No Place to Go

As Israel Pushes Gaza's Yellow Line Westward, Displaced Families in Shujaiya Face Renewed Danger

Shujaiyeh, Gaza Strip – Mahmoud Harzin is pitching his tent 200 meters away from the yellow concrete blocks that mark Israel's yellow line, preparing for his sixth move.

Every time the line gets closer, the 35-year-old packs up and walks back, trying to keep his family out of harm's way. But any move will only provide temporary relief.

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"Every time they move forward a little bit, we go back a little bit," Harzin told Al Jazeera.

The Yellow Line divided the Gaza Strip between Israeli and Palestinian control as part of the October 2025 "ceasefire" agreement.

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

On October 11, Israeli forces moved the yellow concrete blocks tens of meters to the west in Shujaya, east of Gaza City. Most of the neighborhood came under the control of the Israeli army, and Palestinian families were forced to flee again, as Israel's borders changed, restricting where they could live and move.

For Harzin, who supports a family of 10, the latest move is part of a year-long search for a place for her family to live.

He cannot remember the date of each move. Instead, he remembered the places one after the other: Zaytoun, Sahat al-Shawa, al-Muntaza.

"About six times - every time the line went a little further - I felt it was dangerous, so I would go back a little bit and try to live there for a while," he explained.

His latest move barely lasted a night. After spending time setting up the tent, he slept in it once before the Israeli forces pushed the yellow line forward again, and it was too close for Harzin.

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

The threat goes beyond the movement of the blocks themselves. Harzin described life amid drones, helicopters, artillery fire and stray bullets, with shrapnel a constant threat to those sheltering nearby.

Nights when the line is leading are especially scary, he said.

Israel has continued its attacks despite the "ceasefire" and has killed nearly 1,500 Palestinians in the past year. Israel has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians since the war began in October 2023.

"The night they move the line, the tanks, the infantry are coming down and the shells are being fired," he said. "All this is happening so that they can push the yellow block a little further."

Most of the people of Gaza have been displaced several times as a result of Israel's genocidal war and the widespread destruction of buildings throughout the region. This leaves little space for camping in safer areas and exorbitant rents that Harzin cannot afford.

Now he is preparing for the possibility of moving again. "They will probably bring it forward again," he said. Every time we have to escape, we have to get closer to it. "We keep moving."

For Asma Ali, 32, the advance of the Yellow Line has turned commuting into a cycle of fleeing at night and returning in the morning, not knowing how long her family can stay in one place.

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

After staying in the center of Gaza City, they returned to Shujaya with the hope of settling in Al-Antar area. But then, a month later, shelling again and the fear of evacuation forced them to move again.

The family sought shelter at a school before moving to a house near the bus station. After a night of heavy shelling, they left in the early hours of the morning and stayed with their families in the center of Gaza City. But the advance of the yellow line has left Ali uncertain about where his family could go next.

Ali said: "We ran away every night and returned in the morning." "You spend the night finding a place to stay, then you come back the next morning."

"The night the yellow line goes forward is terrible," he said. "Shooting goes on from night to dawn. You live in fear."

Ali said his family lost all their belongings, including gold, household items and children's clothes, when the house they were staying in was destroyed.

Among the missing items was a brace for her son, who is disabled. He only had the brace for two days.

"It was gone in the blink of an eye," he said.

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

Asma's request is simple: a place where her children can sleep without the family running away again.

"The most important thing is a safe place for us," he said. Where I can leave my children and where we can rest and settle down.