Today, the landscape is a ghost: a vast expanse of rubble, carefully guarded by two Israeli soldiers, their eyes on the target of their guns. They are stationed at a strategic elevated point inside Gaza, where we have access under the escort of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
In Shejaiya, in northern Gaza, the only sign of life are two stray dogs. They move among the ruins of what was once a vibrant neighborhood of the capital, home to over 90 people. Today, the landscape is a ghost: a vast expanse of rubble, carefully watched by two Israeli soldiers, their eyes on the target of their guns. They are stationed at a strategic elevated point inside Gaza, where we have access under the escort of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This is the first time since the ceasefire began on October 10 that a group of foreign journalists has visited the Palestinian enclave.
WHAT IS LEFT OF SHEJAIYA
Shejaiya used to cover six square kilometers. Today, it makes up 58% of the devastated Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops withdrew after the ceasefire began. There is no set date for the end of their control over this part of the Gaza Strip. Almost the entire population, more than two million, is part of the remaining 42%, where Hamas tries to maintain authority with an iron fist.
Our route was narrow and only entered a few hundred meters into the Israeli-controlled area. There are no Palestinians in Shejaiya, not only because they have nowhere to take shelter after the systematic destruction of buildings, but also because the neighborhood is located east of what is known as the “Yellow Line,” which separates the two parts of Gaza: the one controlled by Israel and the other, a division created after the ceasefire and set for an indefinite period. Crossing to reach the Israeli side is life-threatening, as happened to a family who ventured out by car last week to see if their house was still standing. Defense Minister Israel Katz declared: “Anyone who approaches it does so at the risk of their lives.”
Israel’s largest newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, calls this now Israel’s “new real border” with Palestinian territory. The armored vehicle road from the border to there passes through a landscape that can only be called a desert.
From the vantage point where the soldiers are watching, the tactical strategy of the line is clear: it is located in a low-lying area, under the control of elevated positions hundreds of meters away. An Israeli commander, who preferred to remain anonymous, explained: One of our requirements was that the Yellow Line not be on high ground, but in a low place, so that we could control it without endangering our troops. The line resembles, with some orographic changes, the positions that the Israeli army had maintained for more than a decade in southern Lebanon, until the withdrawal in 2000.
The raised outpost houses field hospitals, stretchers for evacuating the wounded, and a graffiti congratulating a soldier who was getting married. This was the same spot from which Donald Trump’s top Middle East advisers, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, surveyed Gaza last week. Kushner later said: “It looks like a nuclear bomb went off there. From there, it’s easy to see where the Yellow Line runs, even without anyone telling you: its east is completely destroyed.” We are in northern Gaza, the area from which Israel forcibly evacuated more than a million people at the beginning of the occupation and into which it has since advanced with fierce ground battles.
AMONG THE RUINS
Most of the 300 people who remained in the north had found refuge in Shejaiya, as other neighborhoods such as Jabalia or Beit Hanoun were in even worse condition. But Shejaiya became the scene of fierce battles with Palestinian militias. The Israeli high command says that many houses were filled with explosives and the militias had built tunnels that reached into Israel, now destroyed or unusable. The ruins in Shejaiya are not only the result of bombings or fighting during the three invasions between 2023 and 2024, but mainly from controlled explosions and the work of excavators.
Even to the west of Shejaiya, destroyed neighborhoods are visible. Where Israeli troops have advanced, including using suicide bombers, the target has been the center of Gaza City. Many residents, however, were living there when the defense minister warned that anyone who did not heed the warning would be considered a terrorist or collaborator. But Trump’s intervention and the ceasefire stopped the advance.
THE YELLOW LINE AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
Officially, the separation is temporary, but the terms of the Israeli army’s future withdrawal are so vague and complicated that the line could become a de facto border, at least for a few months. The army marks it with large concrete blocks painted yellow, but only a few of them have been erected. The rules of engagement, according to the deputy chief of staff, Tamir Yadai, are harsh: If we see a suspicious adult, we shoot him. If we see a child on a donkey, we stop him. Israel’s Defense Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has expressed wry misgivings about the approach.
Israel sees the next phase of withdrawal only in vague terms: the creation of a multinational force, a technical and apolitical Palestinian government, and especially the disarmament of Hamas, a process that could take years.
Experts warn that the Yellow Line could become a high and sophisticated barrier, enclosing Gaza and facilitating the construction of Israeli settlements in the surrounding area. Satellite analysis shows that the blocks have been placed hundreds of meters west of the official line, with the aim of gaining space for a possible border that has not yet been finally determined. According to the Israeli command, some of the bodies of the 13 hostages who have not yet been returned may be under the rubble. For the first time, the Israeli authorities allowed some Hamas members to cross the Line together with the Red Cross to help find the bodies.
PERSPECTIVE FOR RECONSTRUCTION
East of the Yellow Line, there are no Palestinians left, except for a few hundred individuals linked to criminal activity. The reconstruction of Gaza is expected to begin from here, according to American and Israeli officials, including water and energy infrastructure to prepare the country for the next phases of the ceasefire. Israel is using a combination of carrot and stick: it is stopping aid to Hamas-controlled areas until they disarm, but it is starting the construction of the first buildings to reward areas deemed “liberated from terrorism.” Rafah in the south has been set up as an experimental point, leveled and ready for rapid reconstruction.
According to Israeli media, the Yellow Line could be moved westward as part of pressure on Hamas to hand over the hostages. The government is also considering closing the Rafah border crossing and restricting humanitarian aid.
RISK OF VIOLENCE
The Yellow Line has been the center of debate since the ceasefire, as violence has continued in the Israeli-controlled area, where militias are still hiding. Isolated and with little food and water, they are unaware that the ceasefire is in place, and their outlook is one of surrender or death. The latter scenario is repeated: isolated attacks by militias, which trigger counterattacks with intense shelling that claim Palestinian lives.