IDF constructing miles-long earthen barrier inside Gaza, separating Israeli-controlled territory - report

The IDF has quietly constructed a large earthen barrier separating over half of the Gaza Strip, which it controls, from the area under Hamas control, the Associated Press reports. 

Over 23 kilometers (14 miles) have been built in recent months, with the barrier running through some Palestinian communities destroyed by the IDF during its ground operations between October 2023 and October 2025. 

For reference, the entire Gaza Strip is 40 kilometers (25 miles) long and about 11 kilometers (97 miles) wide. 

The Associated Press obtained images from Planet Labs, which demonstrate the recent construction of the earthen barrier. The IDF confirmed to the Associated Press that it built a barrier along the Yellow Line – the line demarcating the separation between Israeli-controlled territory and Hamas territory in the October 2025 agreement. 

The line was designed to be a temporary division of the territory, serving as a line of separation between the IDF and Hamas during the period of extended negotiations for the disarmament of Hamas, and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces. 

With the uncertain status of the ceasefire agreement, and the near-total collapse of negotiations following a series of Hamas attacks on Israeli positions early in the ceasefire, as well as the daily IDF strikes targeting Hamas leadership, and the terror organization’s repeated rejections of disarmament, the Yellow Line is starting to look like a permanent border. 

Israeli leaders have admitted to moving the Yellow Line from its original position, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordering the IDF to take control of almost 70% of the Gaza Strip - up from the 53% it held at the time the ceasefire was declared. 

Alongside the deployment of concrete markers, painted yellow, to indicate the location of the demarcation line, the IDF says the new earthen barrier is designed to make the de facto border clear to Gaza civilians, to “reduce friction and prevent harm to uninvolved individuals,” as well as prevent infiltration by fighters from Hamas or other Palestinian terror groups. 

Additionally, the IDF has set up other security measures along the Yellow Line, including technological systems to enhance security. 

Critics have said that the Yellow Line is not clearly defined in the October 2025 agreement, nor has it been clearly marked. 

While the construction of the new berm to demarcate the line will deal with the latter criticism, it could indicate that Israel intends to hold the area under its control indefinitely, the critics argue.

They point to recent events, such as the march to the border area by supporters of Jewish settlement in Gaza, attended by many coalition ministers and Knesset members (MKs), as proof that Israel could be planning to annex the territory. 

Such a move would drastically reduce the amount of territory for Gaza’s population of over 2 million inhabitants. 

The IDF has consistently fired on anyone approaching or attempting to cross the Yellow Line since the start of the ceasefire. While many such attempts were conducted by armed fighters, in some instances, children and other civilians have been killed near the Yellow Line, in areas where the boundary was not clearly defined. 

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of ceasefire violations over the past ten months, and Board of Peace envoy for Gaza and former UN envoy to the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, warned on multiple occasions that such violations threaten the Gaza Peace Plan put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Recently, Mladenov has blamed Hamas' failure to disarm for the lack of progress in the peace plan. 

At present, the earthen berms cut off the southern area of Rafah, which the IDF seized and razed as part of efforts to destroy Hamas terror tunnels in the area, some of which were used for smuggling goods and weapons from Egypt. 

That berm could soon connect to the longest section of the barrier, almost 17 kilometers (10 miles), which runs from the area of Khan Younis north to the area around Gaza City. 

Additionally, in the northern Strip, several earthen berms outside the destroyed town of Beit Lahiya form a line of around 2 kilometers (1.5 miles). 

On the Israeli side of the Yellow Line, the IDF has destroyed and razed almost all buildings, as well as conducting continuous operations to find and destroy underground Hamas infrastructure. This has also led to the destruction of almost all agricultural fields within that territory. 

The IDF has also constructed new roads and posts for its soldiers stationed within the territory it controls in Gaza. However, during the Gaza War, the IDF previously withdrew from areas it had controlled, even after constructing security infrastructure there, as it did along the Morag Corridor in 2025.