Sources said Hamas has agreed to the arrangement, and mediators are awaiting Israel's approval. AP
The initiative allegedly aims to prevent clashes with Israeli occupation forces, with resistance fighters expected to be escorted in Red Cross vehicles through designated safe corridors. Sources said Hamas has agreed to the arrangement, and mediators are awaiting Israel's approval.
The “Yellow Line” divides Gaza into two regions: West Gaza and East Gaza, the latter of which straddles Gaza's pre-7 October borders and has been entirely depopulated of Palestinians.
Under the Trump plan, the Yellow Line was presented as a temporary boundary, marking the first stage of Israel’s phased withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
The second phase envisioned a further pullout, followed by the deployment of an international stabilisation force to assume control.
In the final phase, Israel was to retreat to a designated “security buffer zone,” leaving a limited area under its military presence, with an international administrative body overseeing governance and the transitional period.
Instead, Israel has deepened its occupation, reinforcing the Yellow Line with earthworks, barriers, and fortifications — raising fears it is becoming a permanent border of control.
Map of the Israeli Withdrawal from Gaza as published by the White House.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week acknowledged two remaining Hamas "pockets" in Israeli‑occupied Gaza, one in Rafah and the other in Khan Younis, and vowed to kill the resistance fighters.
Since the start of its genocidal war in October 2023, Israel has killed around 69,000 Palestinians in Gaza and injured more than 170,000 others, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Earlier, Israel had occupied up to 80 percent of Gaza before withdrawing to the Yellow Line under a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that briefly halted its deadliest war on the territory.
Despite the ongoing truce, Israel has launched multiple strikes on Gaza, killing at least 250 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since it took effect on 10 October.
Netanyahu, himself indicted for war crimes against Palestinians, ended his weekly cabinet meeting by issuing a threat to some 2.3 million people in Gaza and reiterating his government’s demand to disarm Hamas and demilitarise the besieged strip.
“It is an understanding I share with President Trump, and we are acting according to a clear framework. If it cannot be achieved one way, it will be achieved another way — and everyone knows what that other way is, and who will carry it out,” he said.
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