Ruwaida Amer
+972 Magazine / December 5, 2025
Israeli forces are advancing beyond stipulated boundaries, where Palestinians say supposedly safe neighbourhoods are coming under fire without warning.
Since the illusory ceasefire took hold in Gaza, the lives of Palestinians in the Strip have been dictated by an imaginary line drawn up by the Israeli army. Crossing this “Yellow Line,” which indicates the boundary of Israel’s occupation of ethnically cleansed areas spanning more than half of Gaza, constitutes a death sentence — even for children collecting firewood for their wheelchair-bound father. Yet not only is it poorly demarcated; it is also continuously expanding.
Residents describe a reality in which supposedly safe neighbourhoods are transformed overnight into active frontlines, with no warning. On Nov. 20, Israeli forces advanced a further 300 meters into the neighbourhood of Al-Tuffah in northeastern Gaza City, forcing residents to flee for their lives despite the ceasefire that was supposed to guarantee their safety. Now, there are growing fears among residents further west, in areas considered outside the immediate zone of danger, that they, too, may soon be forced out.
“They shelled the area and forced us to flee before nightfall,” Basem Badir (28) from Al-Tuffah, recalled of the day of the incursion. In the days prior, he had seen Israeli military vehicles nearby “carrying out demolition and bulldozing operations.”
Like many others in the area, Badir’s family fled west. When he returned two days later to check on their home, it was unreachable: The concrete blocks demarcating the Yellow Line had moved, and “quadcopters were firing at anyone who approached them.”
“We feel that the war is continuing,” Badir told +972 Magazine. “The area is never safe, and people have been fleeing it for days.”
The situation escalated again on Dec. 1, when Israeli forces began shelling homes near the Sinafur intersection, trapping several families and wounding dozens of people. Residents appealed to the Civil Defense and humanitarian agencies for help, but they were unable to reach the besieged families due to ongoing shelling.
Ahlam Murshed (40) returned to her destroyed home with her family after the ceasefire, hoping to put an end to the suffering of repeated displacement. She repaired one room for them to live in, believing they were far enough away from the Yellow Line — about a kilometer — to be safe from danger. But every night was filled with the sounds of demolitions, “as if they were digging up the earth,” and her children refused to leave the house after dark. “Our lives are limited to daylight hours only,” she told +972 Magazine.
Still, Murshed tried to endure these conditions — until the shelling began on Dec. 1. At first, she reassured her children that it was just routine activity on the other side of the Yellow Line. But moments later, the shelling intensified, and the blasts reached the Sinafur intersection. Fearing they would be trapped, her family fled through the streets. “The area was red from the intensity of the shelling,” she said.
Murshed carried her 3-year-old daughter while her husband carried their 4-year-old son, who was too scared to run. After two hours, they reached their relatives’ tent near the Unknown Soldier’s Square where they are now sheltering. “We don’t know if this is a ceasefire or a lie,” she said. “What we are experiencing is an ongoing war.”
Residents in the eastern parts of Al-Tuffah say this has become a nightly pattern. On Dec. 2, the army indiscriminately fired gunshots and artillery shells at the homes of several families located west of the Sinafur intersection while they slept, reaching as far as two kilometers beyond the Yellow Line. The Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital received 15 wounded people, and three people from the Sakani family were killed.
One of them was Raif Sakani, a father in his forties. According to his wife, Samar, when the shelling began he tried to rescue his brother’s wife from the second floor of their home, but then the Israeli army fired another shell which killed him instantly.
“We were sleeping peacefully when suddenly the shelling started,” Samar told +972 Magazine. “We hadn’t had a moment’s peace for two nights because quadcopters were firing at us, as if ordering us to leave our homes. We ignored them and stayed put, but other neighbours fled in fear of their lives and the lives of their children.
“We clung to our home, but I never knew I would lose my husband,” she continued. “Our neighbours helped us escape on a donkey cart, but he didn’t survive. He left behind five children, and I don’t know how we will live in these harsh conditions.
“I don’t know what he did to deserve to be killed during a ceasefire,” Samar went on. “The shelling was indiscriminate in a supposedly safe area where we posed no threat. This is a cruel occupation with no regard for agreements. I don’t know what more it wants from us? Two years of war and it hasn’t stopped yet. My husband was martyred during the ceasefire.”
In the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood, too, residents spoke of continuing Israeli military aggression. On Nov. 30, Salem Ahmed (45) saw soldiers operating on the western side of the Yellow Line and engaging in heavy gunfire. “They stormed a house belonging to the Al-Siqli family and kidnapped one of the family members,” he told +972 Magazine.
“The shooting has become almost a daily occurrence directed at citizens’ homes, in addition to the dangers posed by armoured vehicles very close to residential areas,” Ahmed continued. “Many families have been forced to flee again, after the Yellow Line was moved and violations in the area increased.”
Ruwaida Amer is a freelance journalist from Khan Younis
