August M
A fragile ceasefire in Gaza is being tested not only by violence but by uncertainty on the ground. New satellite imagery suggests the line meant to separate Israeli forces from civilian areas is shifting in ways that many Palestinians say they cannot predict or understand.
The developments have intensified fears about safety, access to land, and where the boundaries of danger now lie.
Markers moved inward
Israel has moved concrete blocks marking its post-ceasefire line of control deeper into Gaza in several locations, according to satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify. The blocks are used to illustrate what Israeli military maps describe as the Yellow Line.
In at least three areas — Beit Lahia, Jabalia, and al-Tuffah — Israeli forces placed the blocks and later returned to reposition them further inside the Strip. In total, 16 block positions were moved.
In al-Tuffah, images show that at least seven blocks were shifted between 27 November and 25 December, by an average of 295 metres.
Maps and reality
Under a US-brokered deal with Hamas, Israel agreed to withdraw troops behind the Yellow Line. Defence Minister Israel Katz warned in October that anyone crossing it would be “met with fire”.
BBC Verify also mapped 205 other markers. More than half were placed significantly deeper than the line shown on Israeli maps. Some sections of the Yellow Line remain unmarked more than three months after the ceasefire began, leaving around 10km of territory without visible indicators.
An IDF spokesperson rejected “all claims that the Yellow Line has been moved”, saying the army is marking it based on “conditions on the ground”.
Deadly incidents
Since Katz’s warning, Israeli troops have shot at people crossing the Yellow Line on at least 69 occasions, according to BBC Verify analysis of IDF statements.
On 19 December, an Israeli strike hit a school sheltering displaced people in al-Tuffah, killing five, Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said. The site was just metres from a yellow block that had been moved.
In Jabalia, 17-year-old Zaher Nasser Shamiya was killed near the blocks. His father said he was run over by a tank. The BBC has asked the IDF for comment.
Demolitions and control
Satellite images and videos show IDF vehicles operating hundreds of metres beyond the mapped line, sometimes followed by demolitions of nearby buildings.
Prof Andreas Krieg of King’s College London described the movement of the blocks as “territorial engineering”, allowing control to shift without formally changing borders.
Efraim Inbar of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security said the mapped line may not reflect terrain constraints, and blocks may be placed where it is easier to do so.
Sources: BBC, BBC Verify
