Israel Digs Gaza Barrier Almost a Mile Beyond the Yellow Line

Satellite images show Israel has built an embankment reaching nearly a mile beyond the Yellow Line, which demarcates IDF-controlled territory in Gaza, in the Rafah area in the southern Strip. The full length of the barrier reaches many miles, as revealed by Haaretz

July 22nd, 11AM July 22nd, 15PM

The land barrier that the Israeli military is building in the Gaza Strip has extended hundreds of meters beyond the official "Yellow Line" and into territory designated to be held by Hamas after the U.S.-brokered cease-fire announcement.

Satellite images captured this month show that in one area in the southern Gaza Strip, the land barrier extends nearly a mile beyond the Yellow Line, which demarcates IDF-controlled territory.

During the last few months, the IDF has been building a ground barrier stretching many miles inside the Gaza Strip, as revealed last March in a Haaretz investigation into how the Israeli army is consolidating the separation line. The barrier was initially built along the Yellow Line separating the IDF and Hamas, and according to satellite imagery and ground documentation, it is constructed largely of an earthen embankment and a trench.

For several months, the route of the barrier aligned with the Yellow Line, with the largest deviation into Hamas-controlled territory reaching 180 meters (about 590 feet).

But according to Planet Labs satellite imagery from July, the ground barrier now extends hundreds of meters beyond the Yellow Line in two locations in the southern Gaza Strip.

The first is in Khan Yunis, where it extends about 400 meters beyond the line, coming close to Gaza's key Salah al-Din Road, which is a major travel passageway between the northern and southern Gaza. The second is in the Rafah area, where at one point the barrier reaches approximately 1,300 meters (4,200 feet or 0.8 miles) beyond the official Yellow Line.

In both cases, the barrier approaches what is known as the Orange Line, which was unilaterally established by the IDF deep inside the territory officially under Hamas control. The IDF has urged humanitarian aid organizations to coordinate any movement within the area between the two lines with the military.

The expansion of the barrier deeper into Gaza comes as the IDF takes other measures to widen the area under its control. Under the Yellow Line outline communicated by the Israeli military as of the cease-fire declared last October, Israel was set to control 53 percent of the enclave's territory.

The line was marked out with yellow-painted concrete blocks, which the IDF has gradually moved westward, expanding the territory it controls by several percentage points.

By imposing the Orange Line, Israel has put 65 percent of the Gaza Strip under movement restriction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had directed the army to increase the Israeli-controlled territory to 70 percent of Gaza.

In recent weeks, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported several times that the IDF's marker blocks have been moved beyond the original Yellow Line in several areas, including the northern Gaza Strip, Gaza City and the Deir al-Balah governorate in the center of the enclave.

In certain places, OCHA said, moving the blocks led to the displacement of Gazans living nearby.

In addition to expanding its territory, the IDF has been building at least three new bases in Gaza in recent months, in addition to those already there. One base is currently being built in the area of the central Gaza Strip's refugee camps, with another on the ruins of the town of Bani Suheila near Khan Yunis and a third base near the coast adjacent to the Egyptian border.

The IDF has yet to respond to Haaretz's request for comment.