Israel is building a wall in the Gaza Strip
To divide the territory it occupies from that of Hamas: that wasn't what the agreements said
For several months, the Israeli army has been building a permanent border in the Gaza Strip to separate the part of the Strip it has militarily occupied from the area under Hamas's authority. It is an embankment several meters high, in some places higher, manned by the army and flanked by a ditch. The population cannot approach it, and humanitarian organizations must coordinate with the army to cross it.
The embankment is a relative novelty, and shows that Israel has no intention of withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. It mostly runs along the so-called “yellow line”, which in effect outlines a broad area along the entire border of the Strip, leaving only the central part free. The yellow line marks the temporary border behind which the Israeli army was supposed to withdraw, having invaded the Gaza Strip in October 2023 following Hamas's attacks in Israel. It was established in the ceasefire that came into effect in October 2025, which, however, was vague on timelines and has essentially stalled.
The withdrawal of the Israeli army behind the yellow line was provided for in phase 1 of those agreements, the only phase to have been completed: it also included the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages, and the end of large-scale bombing (which continued on a smaller scale). With phase 2, which came into effect in January of this year but was never actually implemented, the army was supposed to retreat further and then finally leave the Strip in phase 3.
In parallel, the disarmament of Hamas was supposed to take place, but no progress has been made: from Israel's point of view, this is the reason that justifies the occupation of the Strip; from Hamas's point of view, disarmament can only take place after Israel withdraws.
In effect, phase 2 of the agreements has remained only on paper. The only progress has been the dissolution at the beginning of July of the body with which Hamas has governed the Strip since 2007, and the formation in January of the Technical Committee for the Administration of Gaza, the transitional body that should manage the peace process and reconstruction. The goal would be to reach a form of self-government of the Strip without Hamas, but there have been no concrete changes.
In these nine months, the army has not only not withdrawn but has gradually expanded the area under its control. The yellow line, initially marked on the ground with yellow concrete blocks, has been progressively moved toward the sea, further reducing livable space for Palestinians.
Even where they are allowed to stay, however, life is essentially impossible: two years of bombing have destroyed almost every building, home, or infrastructure, and reconstruction has never begun: many of the roughly 2 million Gazans live in displacement camps, and Israel controls everything that enters and exits.
Under the agreements, at this stage the Israeli army should control 53 percent of the Gaza Strip. In practice, the expansions of recent months have brought it above 60. At the end of May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the army to reach 70. “We're starting like this,” he said.
In the area they occupy, Israeli forces have demolished most buildings, agricultural land, and infrastructure. In their place they have built military outposts from which they control the Strip. Approaching is dangerous: despite the ceasefire, more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed since October.
Since the beginning of this year, the army has also started building the embankment, which signals the evident intention to make the border more permanent than it is now. For the moment it does not run along the entire yellow line: the army has built 23 kilometers, about half of what would be needed to surround the area under Hamas's control (bearing in mind that it has three sides anyway, because on one side there is the sea). Of these, the central section is about 17 kilometers long. Then there are two shorter portions, to the north and south.
The work is accelerating. According to an analysis by Associated Press, the southern portion was extended from 500 meters to 2.4 kilometers in two weeks, between July 1 and 15. In some points, the embankment already extends beyond the yellow line: at Rafah, according to an analysis of satellite images conducted by Haaretz, it is 1,300 meters further; at Khan Yunis, 400 meters.
Several government and military figures in recent months have openly stated their intention to remain in the Strip indefinitely. Already in December 2025, the army chief of staff Eyal Zamir had spoken of the yellow line as a new border. He had defined it as a “first line of defense for [Israeli] settlements” and a new “line of attack” against Hamas.
In May, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the government's ultimate goal is to promote what he called a “voluntary migration” of Palestinians out of the Strip: according to the UN, this is a form of ethnic cleansing. In June, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich finally declared that the project for building three outposts in the north of the Gaza Strip was ready, and that the ministries involved were only waiting for the approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to proceed with the works.
