Israel’s army chief has declared that a withdrawal line established under the Gaza ceasefire is now a “new border”, effectively reducing the usable land area of the Gaza Strip while Israel also signals its intention to maintain a long-term military presence in southern Syria.
During a visit to reservists in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the so-called Yellow Line “constitutes a new border – a forward defensive line for the Israeli border communities and a line of attack”.
According to the army, he added that Israel would not allow Hamas to re-establish itself in Gaza and that any attempt to threaten Israeli forces would be met with force.
The Yellow Line was originally established as a withdrawal line within Gaza under the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that came into force on 10 October. Under that agreement, Israeli forces pulled back to positions behind the line as part of the first phase of a staged withdrawal.
The line runs between roughly 1.5 and 6.5 kilometres inside the Gaza Strip from the pre-war frontier with Israel. Before the new demarcation, the enclave was about 41 kilometres long and between six and twelve kilometres wide, and a population of more than two million Palestinians.
The IDF has marked the Yellow Line on the ground with yellow-painted concrete elements and signs, giving the line its name and turning what was agreed as an internal withdrawal position into a clearly visible barrier. In practice, it now delineates a new division of territory within Gaza.
Israeli officials say that, as a result, Israel now retains military control over somewhat more than half of the Gaza Strip. Zamir described this as an “operational border” that secures Israeli communities adjacent to Gaza while providing a staging area for any renewed operations.
The status of the Yellow Line is formally linked to the broader US peace plan promoted by President Donald Trump, which structures the Gaza ceasefire into three phases. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he expected Israel and Hamas to move into the second phase “very shortly”, once Hamas returns the remains of the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza, Ran Gvili.
Speaking in Jerusalem alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Netanyahu stated that the second phase focuses on the disarmament of Hamas and the demilitarisation of Gaza, combined with the deployment of an international force in the territory and a further withdrawal of Israeli troops beyond the current line.
The third phase of the plan, as outlined by Netanyahu, is aimed at “deradicalising Gaza”. It is expected to run in parallel with reconstruction and the establishment of new administrative structures in the Strip. Merz said the agreement “must now come to fruition” and confirmed that Germany would contribute to reconstruction and support efforts to maintain stability, while stating that Hamas should have no political role in Gaza.
While the ceasefire framework describes the Yellow Line as temporary, Zamir’s description of it as a “new border” raises questions over whether the line could become a de facto internal frontier if later phases are delayed or not implemented. The wording of the original agreement refers only to a withdrawal line; it does not define any new permanent boundary inside Gaza.
At the same time, Israel is signalling that it intends to maintain a long-term role in shaping security conditions in southern Syria. Netanyahu has said he expects any future settlement with Damascus to include a demilitarised buffer zone stretching from the Syrian capital to the line of separation on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, including the approaches to Mount Hermon.
Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has criticised Israeli military activity and air strikes in the south of the country, accusing Israel of exporting crises and calling for the 1974 disengagement agreement – which regulates the separation of Israeli and Syrian forces following the 1973 Yom Kippur War – to be fully reinstated.
Netanyahu has argued that Israel’s military presence in and around the UN-monitored buffer zone is required to prevent attacks from border-adjacent areas and to protect the country’s Druze minority in Syria, whom Israel regards as allies. Israeli forces have been reported at positions on both the Israeli-controlled and Syrian-controlled sides of Mount Hermon since the collapse of the Assad regime.
Taken together, the declaration of the Yellow Line as a new border inside Gaza and the demand for a deep buffer zone inside Syria indicate that Israel is seeking to formalise new security perimeters on both its south-western and north-eastern fronts as regional negotiations over Gaza, Syria and broader security arrangements continue.
