Israel is building new land barriers inside Gaza and moving the yellow concrete blocks that mark its ceasefire control line further west, displacing families who had already lost their homes, the BBC reported on Wednesday. Families in al-Tuffah, in northern Gaza, woke on Monday to find the blocks moved westwards into the centre of Salah al-Din road, a key north-south route, with an Israeli flag flying on top of a nearby earth barrier around 3 metres (10 feet) tall.

"We've been displaced from place to place, and now we have nowhere left to go," Umm Mohammed al-Shawish told the BBC. The family's home was destroyed during the war, and on Sunday they fled again after the Israeli military called to warn of an attack on a nearby building; their only shelter, a tent, was torn apart by the strike, the BBC reported. "We are going to die here," Mohammed al-Shawish said. "Death is better than humiliation. No-one is standing with us."

Under the US-brokered ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas last October, Israel agreed to withdraw its forces to a designated demarcation — the Yellow Line — which was meant to leave Israel in temporary control of 53% of Gaza's territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) controlled more than 60% of the Strip, and in May he said publicly that his "directive" was to move to 70%, the BBC reported.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the October ceasefire agreement by moving the Yellow Line westwards. A senior Israeli government official rejected Hamas's claims outright, telling the BBC: "IDF deployments and security lines are operational measures taken to protect Israeli citizens and prevent Hamas from rebuilding its terror army. Israel will continue to act against any ceasefire violations." The United Nations says most of Gaza's population of around 2.1 million people — yaani, about 21 lakh people — remains displaced, and residents are now confined to less than 40% of the Strip's territory as access beyond the Yellow and Orange lines is restricted, according to UN OCHA figures carried by UNifeed. Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces also moved the blocks dozens of metres westward in Shujayea, eastern Gaza City, on October 11, and put the area under Israeli control at about 65%, citing UN figures. Sources: BBC — Israel building new land barriers in Gaza and displacing families (Oct 21, 2026); UN UNifeed — Gaza / Yellow Line; Al Jazeera via 234Radio — Israel's Yellow Line in Gaza advances, leaving displaced with nowhere to go (Oct 2026).