New maps of the Gaza Strip quietly issued by Israel a little more than a month ago have put thousands of displaced Palestinians inside an expanded restricted area, within boundaries the military says it can continue to change.

The restricted area, marked on the maps with an orange line, makes up an estimated 11% of Gaza’s territory beyond the “Yellow Line” demarcating the part of Gaza occupied by Israeli troops since an October ceasefire. The areas cordon off nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s territory in total.

Israel’s military sent the maps to aid groups in Gaza in mid-March, two aid sources said, but has not released them publicly.

Israel says the area between the orange line and the yellow truce line to which its troops withdrew under an October deal is a restricted zone to enable aid delivery, and that aid groups must coordinate their movements with the military. It says civilians are not affected.

The expanded zone has stirred fears from displaced Palestinians living there that they could be deemed targets by Israel, and shot. It has also stoked concerns that Israel may plan to hold the area permanently.

Israeli officials describe the territory they’ve seized in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon as “buffer zones” that can stave off potential terrorist attacks following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel that set off the Gaza war.

“In Gaza, more than half of the Strip’s territory” is under Israeli control, Netanyahu said in a March 31 video statement. “We are the ones who attack and initiate, and we are the ones who surprise our enemies.”

The "yellow line" is closing in on Gaza from all directions, with orange marking its updated location. It's creating a shrinking prison where tanks and daily gunfire make life deadly even behind this boundary pic.twitter.com/MLZKR6vmkx Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId: 'Article_Incontent1', } ]); }); } — Free Palestine ???????? (@FreePalestineHQ) April 5, 2026

The "yellow line" is closing in on Gaza from all directions, with orange marking its updated location. It's creating a shrinking prison where tanks and daily gunfire make life........

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