In Gaza, Israel’s creeping Yellow Line takes Palestinians’ land, and lives

• By Ghada Abdulfattah Special contributor
• Taylor Luck Special correspondent
   
  Feb. 17, 2026

  Why We Wrote This

  The yellow cement blocks demarcating Israeli-held territory in Gaza were supposed to mark a temporary armistice line. But with the ceasefire process stalled, the blocks keep moving deeper into Gaza, making Palestinians feel more closed in, and trapped.

For Palestinian residents of Gaza, a string of concrete yellow boxes now demarcates where Israeli-occupied land begins – a barely visible border that, for Palestinians who cross it, marks the line between life and death.

It also marks a shrinking amount of space in which displaced Gazans can live.

The blocks – some with yellow poles – mark the so-called Yellow Line, which residents say is steadily being moved further west and south by Israeli forces.

A temporary makeshift armistice line, the Yellow Line was to disappear and Israeli forces were to withdraw from Gaza... READ MORE   https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2026/0217/gaza-palestinian-land-israel-yellow-line-border

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]   

Maps illustrating Israel (& Palestine)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54116567

 

Map of the Partition of Israel and Palestine 

https://worldhistorycommons.org/map-partition-israel-and-palestine

This map shows in green the areas that Israel has had under military occupation since 1967. As noted in the previous map, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egyptian control by 1982.  https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

 

This detailed map shows the fragmentation of the West Bank in 2002. Over a decade later, the settlement areas and their populations have greatly expanded. https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

This map shows the planned route of the Separation Wall, also called the Separation Barrier, the Security Fence and the Apartheid Wall. Israel began building the Wall in 2002, and it is not finished https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

The locations of checkpoints, roadblocks, agricultural gates and other obstacles have changed periodically over the years of occupation, but there continue to be hundreds of such hindrances to Palestinian’s essential freedom of movement.  https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

Gaza is part of the territories under military occupation by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967. Although Israeli settlers and troops were withdrawn from Gaza in 2005, it is still considered occupied territory under international law because Israel still controls the lives of the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel maintains a blockade by land and sea https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

 

This map give a detailed picture of the land around Jerusalem that Israel is annexing with the Separation Wall. The solid black line shows the portion of the Wall that has been completed and the solid red line that extends from that black line shows the route of the Wall that remains to be built. All of the light blue area is Palestinian territory trapped between the Wall to the east and the border of Israel to the west, the seam zone. All of the green area is occupied Palestinian territory beyond the Wall.

The dark blue areas are settlements, both east and west of the Wall. The orange areas are Palestinian communities, both east and west of the Wall. https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-jerusalem/