Israeli Army Expands Yellow Line Buffer Zone in Gaza and Southern Lebanon, Netanyahu Orders

Israel is pursuing an expanded “zones tampons” strategy across Gaza, southern Lebanon, and the Golan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahou confirming he ordered the army “d’étendre la zone de sécurité” au sud du Liban as operations against Hezbollah continue.

In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army’s ground progression is described as encompassing multiple villages frontaliers “aujourd’hui largement vidés de leurs habitants et, pour certains, détruits, voire entièrement rasés,” with divisions including the 91ᵉ and 36ᵉ à l’est, the 146ᵉ à l’ouest, and the 162ᵉ in offensives aimed at widening the buffer zone.

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In Gaza, the strategy is described as the most advanced and structured, with Israel establishing since 2025 a buffer band along the eastern and northern borders with a depth estimated between 1,5 and plus de 6 kilomètres selon les secteurs, and a “ligne jaune” separating areas under Israeli control from the rest of the enclave.

The same source says the “corridor de Netzarim” cuts the territory into multiple segments while the “corridor de Philadelphie” along the Egyptian border remains a key control point for flows, alongside “une destruction massive” of agricultural and urban areas around Khan Younes.

In parallel, the Hezbollah response is framed as an attrition strategy since 2024, combining “tirs de roquettes élargis vers le nord et le centre d’Israël” and “opérations d’infiltration ponctuelles,” explicitly aimed at making Israeli presence “instable et coûteuse.”

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire reached in October 2025 after the army ordered the seizure of more land in the Gaza Strip, with Basem Na'im telling AFP: “In a flagrant violation of all agreements” Netanyahu announced an expansion of control to cover 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem denounced the “utter silence” of the Peace Council and its executive director Nikolai Miladinov toward “the dangerous statements by the occupation government about controlling 70 percent of the Gaza Strip, and continuing to work on the plan to displace the Palestinian people.”

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The same report says Netanyahu announced on Thursday his intention to expand the army’s control from the current 60 percent to 70 percent, adding that “My directive is to transition to... 70 percent.”

It also describes the ceasefire’s first phase beginning in October last year, when the release of the last hostages taken during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 occurred in exchange for the release of Palestinians held by Israel, while the move to the second phase stalled.

The report further states that the ceasefire agreement stipulated withdrawal of Israeli forces behind what is known as the “Yellow Line,” the boundary between areas controlled by Hamas and those under Israeli control, as Gaza continued to experience daily violence amid accusations between the Israeli army and Hamas of violating the ceasefire announced since October 10.

Reuters and the BBC are cited as analyzing satellite images showing the “yellow line” being pushed back into Palestinian territory despite the October 2025 ceasefire, with the Le Figaro report saying that in Gaza City the line has been pushed back by “tens, sometimes hundreds of meters.”

In the al-Tofah neighborhood, the report says images taken between December 2 and 13 show blocks installed on the Palestinian side before being moved about 200 meters to the west, and it adds that “at least forty buildings were destroyed, according to Reuters' analysis.”

A separate account describes the Israeli occupation forces escalating measures in the Gaza Strip by expanding the scope of the “Yellow Line,” reporting that the occupation recently expanded the security zone to engulf about 70% of the total land of the Gaza Strip after it constituted 53% in previous stages.

That same source says the engineering units carried out “extensive demolition operations of residential buildings” behind the line, leading to the destruction of entire neighborhoods and the displacement of “thousands of additional families.”

Al-Jazeera Net frames the stakes as forced displacement under the Yellow Line, describing that the ceasefire agreement signed in October 2025 stated Israel would remain in only 53% of the Gaza Strip’s area during the initial phase, while it says Israel “forced about a million Palestinians to flee forcibly” before its machinery and raids.