LOCAL authorities say Israeli occupation forces have pushed deeper into Gaza City in open violation of the ceasefire, expanding the so-called ‘yellow line’ and encircling dozens of Palestinian families who cannot escape advancing tanks.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said on Thursday that Israeli units shifted the markers of the boundary and moved roughly 300 metres into Ash-Shaaf, An-Nazzaz and Baghdad Street.
The advance pressed further into residential areas and left families trapped as armour moved forward.
‘The fate of many of these families remains unknown amidst the shelling that targeted the area,’ the office said, adding that the expansion of the yellow line shows a ‘blatant disregard’ for the ceasefire deal.
Sources reported that on Friday the Israeli military continued air and artillery strikes inside the same zone east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli warplanes and tanks hit areas within the line, killing one Palestinian and injuring several others.
The latest assault followed strikes on Wednesday that killed 25 Palestinians in Gaza City and Khan Younis.
According to the media office, Israel has violated the truce since the day it began, carrying out near-daily attacks by air, artillery and direct fire.
More than 400 breaches have been recorded, resulting in over 300 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Gaza’s media office urged the ceasefire’s guarantors, the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, to intervene immediately to halt the attacks and to ensure the delivery of food, shelter materials, medical aid and equipment needed to repair shattered infrastructure.
Under the agreement between Israel and Hamas, the yellow line marks a non-physical partition where Israeli forces repositioned themselves when the truce took effect.
Israel, which routinely fires on Palestinians who approach the area, has maintained control over more than half of the Gaza Strip through this zone.
International bodies, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem and others, have concluded that Israel’s assault on Gaza constitutes genocide.
Israel’s attacks since October 2023 have killed at least 69,546 Palestinians and injured 170,833, flattening large areas of the territory and displacing almost the entire population.
