TEL AVIV (dpa-AFX) – Israel’s Chief of General Staff Ejal Zamir has declared the troops’ withdrawal line in the Gaza Strip to be a new border. According to the army, Zamir said during a visit to troops in the northern Gaza Strip that the so-called “yellow line” is a new border, a front line of defense for the Israeli border communities and at the same time a line of attack. Israel will not allow the Islamist Hamas to re-establish itself in the Gaza Strip. “We will respond strongly to any attempt to threaten our armed forces,” he said.
The Israeli army has withdrawn behind the “yellow line” as part of an agreed ceasefire with Hamas. It extends between 1.5 and 6.5 kilometers into the coastal strip. According to various reports, Israel controls a little more than half of the area.
Before the new border was drawn, the Gaza Strip was around 41 kilometers long and between 6 and 12 kilometers wide – an area that is slightly smaller than the city of Cologne. More than two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip.
The “yellow line” got its name because the Israeli army marks the line of retreat with concrete elements and signs marked in yellow. The “yellow line” also represents a new division of territory in the Gaza Strip./da/DP/mis