Israel army advancing beyond Gaza's Yellow Line with new incursions

The Israeli army is continuing its daily ceasefire violations in the Gaza Strip by advancing westwards beyond the Yellow demarcation Line that splits the occupied Palestinian enclave in two, along with regular airstrikes and forced displacement.

Over the past three days, Israeli forces have moved concrete blocks that demarcate the so-called Yellow Line - areas under Israeli military control - to areas near Salah al-Din Road, according to The New Arab's Arabic-language site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

In the eastern parts of Gaza City’s Shujaiya neighbourhood, Israeli forces have made significant advances, moving to the Sha'af, Nazzaz, and Baghdad Street areas beyond the Yellow Line, seizing more land in the area. Israeli troops have also targeted residents, forcing them to leave their homes.

The Israeli military has made similar advances in the southeastern areas of Khan Younis, with soldiers approaching within 150 metres of the Salah al-Din Road.

In the central Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has expanded the Yellow Line in the al-Bureij and al-Maghazi camps by a distance ranging between 400 and 450 meters, while frequently striking the area.

The Yellow Line drawn by the army divides Gaza into areas under Israeli control - amounting to 52 per cent of the enclave - and lands where Hamas has reasserted its authority.

Researcher and military affairs expert Rami Abu Zubaida told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the Israeli military’s advances are part of a "deliberate and calculated" policy to gradually move beyond the demarcation line, without making any official statements announcing changes to the lines of deployment.

"This approach is not a fleeting action or a temporary field tactic, but rather reflects a systematic military strategy aimed at imposing new realities on the ground under the guise of a ceasefire," he said.

Abu Zubaida said the goal of pushing the Yellow Line westwards is "to expand the security zone inside Gaza, and create large, open, and uninhabited areas to be used as buffer zones".

Such advances will also enable the Israeli army to further isolate Gaza’s eastern parts and maintain a grip on its residents, which could pave the way for turning the area into a "bargaining chip for any future negotiations", he added.

Abu Zubaida said what is happening is "not a limited field advance", but an attempt to redraw the map of the Gaza Strip.

Since the start of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on 10 October, Israel has committed over 500 truce violations, killing at least 342 Palestinians.

Two children killed every day in Gaza

Palestinian officials said that Israel is killing at least two children a day in the war-battered territory since the ceasefire took effect, during a session of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East on Monday.

Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN, said: "Nothing can justify the killing or wounding of 1,000 civilians in Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect, and nothing justifies the fact that, since the ceasefire, two Palestinian children have been killed by Israel every day."

Mansour described Israel’s actions as "a deliberate attempt to prevent us all from moving forward towards life, freedom, and peace", and slammed Israel for carrying out the very things that US President Donald Trump’s peace plan "rejected", such as forced displacement, occupation, and annexation.

Mansour added that Israel is trying to put a stop to the ceasefire altogether "by delaying the entry of aid, resuming its attacks, and, importantly, by crossing the Yellow Line and advancing further into Gaza".

Israel continued its violations of the ceasefire on Tuesday. Forces struck the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, killing one Palestinian man.

This comes as the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said they found the body of one of three captives still held in Gaza, on Monday.

In a statement, the group said: "Today we found the body of one of the enemy prisoners during search operations in areas controlled by the Zionist (Israeli) army in the central Gaza Strip."

As per the ceasefire agreement, Palestinian groups were instructed to release the 20 living captives and hand over the remains of the 28 deceased ones.

So far, the 20 living captives and bodies of 25 others have been handed over, in exchange for 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.