Tel Aviv – New maps of Gaza quietly issued by Israel a little more than a month ago have put thousands of displaced Palestinians inside an expanded restricted area, within boundaries the military says it can continue to change.
The restricted area, marked on the maps with an orange line, makes up an estimated 11 per cent of Gaza’s territory beyond the “Yellow Line” demarcating the part of Gaza occupied by Israeli troops since an October ceasefire.
The areas cordon off nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s territory in total.
Israel’s military sent the maps to aid groups in Gaza in mid-March, two aid sources said, but has not released them publicly.
Israel says the area between the orange line and the yellow truce line to which its troops withdrew under an October deal is a restricted zone to enable aid delivery, and that aid groups must coordinate their movements with the military.
It says civilians are not affected.
The expanded zone has stirred fears from displaced Palestinians living there that they could be deemed targets by Israel, and shot.
It has also stoked concerns that Israel may plan to hold the area permanently.
Israeli officials describe the territory they’ve seized in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon as “buffer zones” that can stave off potential militant attacks following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led, assault that set off the Gaza war.
“In Gaza, more than half of the Strip’s territory” is under Israeli control, Netanyahu said in a March 31 video statement.
“We are the ones who attack and initiate, and we are the ones who surprise our enemies.”
Israel’s expanding control beyond the line agreed in the US-brokered October ceasefire casts further doubt on President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, held up for months due to the Iran war and disagreements over disarming Hamas militants.
It also widens the zone in which Israel’s military says it could operate and carry out deadly attacks against Palestinians, without marking it on the ground.
The October ceasefire line was marked with concrete blocks painted yellow. Israel has previously moved those blocks deeper into Hamas-controlled territory, Reuters has reported.
Issuing its first public comments on the expanded zone, COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza, said it had defined areas adjacent to the Yellow Line in which international organisations including humanitarian groups were required to coordinate their movements with the military.
“The boundaries of these areas (the Orange Line), in which coordination is required, are determined and updated in accordance with the operational situational assessment, with the aim of enabling humanitarian activity while safeguarding personnel in a complex operational environment,” COGAT said.
