(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Reuters reported on Tuesday that European officials and other sources are concerned that, without more progress on the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal, the so-called “yellow line” dividing Israeli-occupied Gaza from the rest of the Strip will become a de facto border, meaning there will be an indefinite Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory.
The report comes as the Trump administration is pushing for a plan to allow reconstruction only in the Israeli-occupied side of Gaza, which accounts for about 58% of the territory. The Atlantic has reported that the US is considering building housing on the Israeli side of the yellow line that could be used by Palestinians who have been “screened” and approved by Israeli intelligence.
Arab countries have been warning against the plan as they fear it will lead to a permanent Israeli occupation and expressed skepticism about the idea of Palestinians being willing to live on the Israeli side.
“Palestinians may not want to live under the rule of Hamas, but the idea that they’ll be willing to move to live under Israeli occupation and be under control of the party they also see as responsible for killing 70,000 of their brethren is fantastical,” an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel last week.
The Atlantic report said that less than 2% of Gaza’s population lives on the Israeli-occupied side of the yellow line. Israel is backing at least four anti-Hamas militias and gangs behind the yellow line, and the US has reportedly been in contact with the groups about “enforcing order” in Gaza.
One of the gangs, led by Yasser Abu Shabab, who admitted in 2024 that his group was looting aid trucks, has members with ties to ISIS. Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who has been pushing the plan to divide Gaza into two, met with Abu Shabab, but the State Department denied that the meeting took place. The reports said that the US believes the Abu Shabab gang could help facilitate the movement of an estimated 150 Hamas militants trapped in Rafah on the Israeli-occupied side of the yellow line.
Under the US ceasefire plan, Israel is required to withdraw further from the yellow line as an international force is deployed into Gaza and as the Strip is “demilitarized.” But there has been little progress on forming the international force, as the countries willing to participate want more clarity on the mission and don’t want to end up fighting Hamas on behalf of Israel.
Hamas has also ruled out the idea of disarming without the establishment of a Palestinian state, an idea the Israeli government has repeatedly rejected.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
