A view of the damaged apartment in a residential building seen after an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza city, on Thursday (June 4, 2026).
| Photo Credit: AP

The Israeli combat soldier saw his teammates yelling in celebration, congratulating one another. They had just struck a vehicle of Palestinians driving near the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip, killing everyone inside.

The reservist said scenes like this had become common after a fragile ceasefire took effect in October. In the weeks he was stationed in Gaza, he said, he saw soldiers relishing the chance to go after those who crossed — or came close to crossing — the so-called yellow line that divides the strip into Israeli-controlled and Palestinian areas.

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“It was a jungle,” the soldier, in his 20s, told The Associated Press (AP). “After the ceasefire, the order was: If someone crosses the line, you shoot them.” As diplomatic efforts to strengthen the deal have stalled, three soldiers described to AP a sense of confusion in the embattled territory, with a lack of clarity on rules of engagement around the yellow line.

Some commanders paid lip service to the agreement, the soldiers said, while privately voicing desire for the war in Gaza to continue. Sometimes, troops were too far away or acted too quickly to recognize who they were shooting, one soldier said — a concern echoed in comments from a whistleblower group of veterans.

The soldiers’ accounts are a rare glimpse into what’s happened in the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza since the deal went into effect seven months ago. The soldiers — reservists deployed throughout Gaza between October and January who’ve since returned — spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared being ostracized over their comments. They said they were speaking out because they were angered and saddened by what they saw.

AP has documented shootings of Palestinian civilians, including children playing, close to the yellow line. And the soldiers said it felt like the killings never stopped amid the tenuous deal. “To call it a ceasefire is a joke,” one soldier told AP.

Gaza’s yellow line has been ambiguous, and Israel has taken control of more land

When the ceasefire went into effect, Israel withdrew troops to a buffer zone demarcated by a yellow line, giving it control of just over half the strip. Under the agreement, Israeli forces are meant to complete a fuller withdrawal, though there’s no timeline for that. The U.S.-backed diplomat overseeing the truce says progress is deadlocked over the central sticking point of disarming Hamas, upon which all other issues — including Israeli withdrawals and reconstruction — hinge.

In the meantime, Israel has expanded control over additional territory in Gaza. Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

The line’s exact location has been ambiguous and sometimes invisible. In some places, it’s marked with yellow blocks and barrels; in others, it at times hasn’t been indicated at all.

The Israeli military invited AP this week to see a section of the yellow line in central Gaza, near the Maghazi refugee camp. The line there was visible, demarcated by a wide dirt path and small yellow markings. To the east was a desolate stretch of open space leading to a heavily fortified Israeli military post about 500 meters away.

An Israeli military commander said Hamas is active on the other side of the line and frequently sends people — militants and civilians — toward the line and even across it to test the army’s readiness and responses.

“There is no reason for anyone to come near the line,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity under military rules. “There’s nothing here.” The army says the entire line, which stretches the length of Gaza, is now clearly marked.

Since the ceasefire went into effect, more than 900 people have been killed in Gaza — dozens of those close to or over the yellow line, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Ministry doesn’t say how many are militants, but unarmed men and children have been among the dead.

Israel’s military has said most of the people killed crossing the line posed a threat to troops. But soldiers who spoke to AP and Breaking the Silence — the whistleblower group that has collected troops’ testimonies throughout the war — say that at times soldiers were too far away, acting too quickly and under too much pressure to tell.

Israel’s Army told AP that the area adjacent to the yellow line is a “sensitive operational environment” with signs saying approaching is prohibited. It said the Army doesn’t target civilians solely for approaching the line and that its rules of engagement require the use of warnings before using force. In situations involving an immediate threat, forces are authorized to act, it said.

One soldier says troops must act fast, with information sometimes based on a hunch

It was the combat soldier’s second tour in Gaza when the ceasefire began. He said he was posted several hundred meters from the yellow line and saw several people trying to cross it killed by soldiers.

Soldiers shooting or ordering drone strikes don’t always know who’s crossing the line, he said. Although soldiers must provide coordinates and get approval from superiors before striking, it’s hard to give exact information as people are moving, he said. He described soldiers calling in coordinates based on a hunch or the last place they saw someone.

Breaking the Silence says the general rules of engagement are extremely permissive, especially for those crossing the line, with orders in many areas being “shoot to kill.” Executive director Nadav Weiman, a veteran who served in Gaza but not in this war, said distance from the target and some trigger-happy soldiers can be problematic.

He said orders and policies from the military’s high commanders “have created a reality where countless civilians have and are being killed for crossing invisible lines.” In one account to Breaking the Silence, in interview notes seen by AP, a soldier describes instructions for troops about anyone crossing the yellow line: “eliminate him no matter what.”

A soldier who was stationed in Gaza says human lives weren’t valued

Another soldier stationed in Gaza for weeks after the ceasefire said the message from commanders was to hold the line at all costs. “There was a general feeling that human lives are not valuable,” he said.

When it came to demarcating the yellow line, the soldier said his superiors told him it was “too much work,” not their job and that Palestinians should know where it was. Being in Gaza took an emotional toll, he said.

Sometimes snipers fired warning shots at people close to the line, he said, but commanders told troops to do more to protect themselves. The soldier understood that to mean firing more lethal shots.

He and the other soldiers who spoke to AP said troops generally understood, based on leaders and fellow soldiers’ actions, that Israel was in Gaza for the long run, not an eventual withdrawal.

Israel’s strikes are increasingly proactive,’ according to an internal report

An internal report circulated among aid groups last month and seen by AP said that across Gaza, Israel has become “increasingly proactive” with its strikes.

Separate data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit, said April was the deadliest month in Gaza this year and that recorded deaths near the yellow line or of people who crossed it increased by more than 25% from January to April, to 73 from 58.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel controls 60% of Gaza and the next step was to move to 70% control. The soldiers told AP that on the ground, the ceasefire is elusive. “We need to stop using this term,” one said of the word, ceasefire. “It’s not serving people that want to stop the war.”

Nickolay Mladenov, the Gaza high representative of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Top U.S. envoys met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday (January 24, 2026) urging his government to move into the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, according to the Prime Minister’s office, which did not give details.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the talks, told reporters the envoys had been working closely with Netanyahu on recovering the remains of the last hostage in Gaza, and on the next steps for demilitarising the territory.

The U.S. is anxious to keep the Trump-brokered deal moving, but Mr. Netanyahu faces pressure to wait until Hamas returns the hostage’s remains.

The biggest signal of the second phase would be the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Ali Shaath, the head of a future technocratic government in Gaza that is expected to run day-to-day affairs, said Thursday (January 22, 2026) the border crossing will open in both directions this coming week. There was no confirmation from Israel, which said it would consider the matter this week. The crossing’s Gaza side is currently under Israeli military control.

The family of Ran Gvili, whose body is still in Gaza, urged more pressure on Hamas. “President Trump himself stated this week in Davos that Hamas knows exactly where our son is being held,” the family said Saturday (January 24, 2026). “Hamas is deceiving the international community and refusing to return our son, the last remaining hostage, in what constitutes a clear violation of the agreement it signed.” Hamas said Wednesday (January 21, 2026) it has provided “all information” it has on Gvili’s remains to ceasefire mediators, and accused Israel of obstructing search efforts in areas it controls in Gaza. The ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.

Meaningless truce: On Netanyahu, the Gaza ceasefire

Egypt’s top diplomat pressed for an immediate opening of the Rafah crossing with the director of Mr. Trump’s new Board of Peace in Gaza, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Saturday (January 24, 2026), including the ability of Palestinians to enter and exit the territory.

Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty spoke by phone with Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, the ministry said in a statement. They discussed the implementation of the ceasefire’s second phase, including the deployment of an international monitoring force, the opening of the Rafah crossing in both directions and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, the statement said.

The Egyptian minister said implementing the second phase is a “key entry point” to launch Gaza’s reconstruction. The statement didn’t say when the crossing will open for travellers and the evacuation of sick and wounded.

Israel is expected to discuss opening the Rafah crossing during Sunday’s (January 25, 2026) Cabinet meeting.

Hamas in a statement on Saturday (January 24, 2026) said a delegation met in Istanbul with the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization about the ceasefire’s second phase and “the fulfillment of the requirements of the first phase.” Two teens killed in Gaza while searching for firewood. Also on Saturday (January 24, 2026), an Israeli strike killed two Palestinian teens in Gaza, according to hospital authorities. The boys, cousins aged 13 and 15, were searching for firewood, according to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which received the bodies.

The boys were killed in the area that Israel’s military has said is safe for Palestinians, about 500 metres (yards) from the Yellow Line, which separates the Israeli-controlled areas in eastern Gaza from the rest of the strip, said a relative, Arafat al-Zawara.

Israel’s military said it had targeted several militants who crossed the Yellow Line and planted explosives, threatening troops. It denied that those killed were children.

Since the ceasefire, more than 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Published – January 25, 2026 08:35 am IST

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinians watch youths riding their motorcycles on sand dunes in the Al-Zahra area, in the central Gaza Strip, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Saturday (December 6, 2025) said the Gaza ceasefire has reached a “critical moment” as its first phase winds down, with the remains of just one Israeli hostage still held by militants in Gaza.

PM Sheikh Mohammed told an international conference in Doha that international mediators, led by the U.S., are working “to force the way forward” to the second phase to cement the deal.

“What we have just done is a pause,” he told the Doha Forum. “We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today,” PM Sheikh Mohammed said.

While the ceasefire halted the heavy fighting of the two-year war, Gaza health officials say that over 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce took effect in October.

In new violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike northwest of Gaza City, Shifa Hospital said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel. But the Israeli Army says it has carried out a number of attacks on Palestinians crossing the ceasefire lines into Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza.

The first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan took effect October 10. The fighting stopped and dozens of hostages held in Gaza were exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prison. Israel sent a delegation last week to Egypt for talks on returning the remains of the last hostage.

The next phase, which includes the deployment of an international security force in Gaza, formation of a new technocratic government for the territory, disarmament of Hamas and an eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, has not yet begun.

Arab and Western officials told The Associated Press on Friday (December 5, 2025) that an international body overseeing the ceasefire, to be led by President Trump himself, is expected to be appointed by the end of the year. In the long term, the plan also calls for a possible “pathway” to Palestinian independence.

PM Sheikh Mohammed said that even the upcoming phase should be “temporary” and that peace in the region could only take place with the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state — something that is opposed by Israel’s hard-line Government.

“If we are just resolving what happened in Gaza, the catastrophe that happened in the last two years, it’s not enough,” PM Sheikh Mohammed said. “There is a root for this conflict. And this conflict is not only about Gaza.”

He added “It’s about Gaza. It’s about the West Bank. It’s about the rights of the Palestinians for their state. We are hoping that we can work together with the U.S. administration to achieve this vision at the end of the day.”

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said there is a “big question” over the formation of an international security force for Gaza. Speaking at the same conference, he said it’s unclear which countries will be joining the force, what the command structure would look like and what its “first mission” will be.

Turkey is one of the “guarantors” of the ceasefire, but Israel, which has rocky relations with the Ankara Government, has rejected any Turkish participation in the force.

“Thousands of details, questions are in place,” Mr. Fidan said. “I think once we deploy International Stabilization Force (ISF), the rest will come.” The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants entered Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking over 250 people hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says that nearly half the dead have been women and children. The Ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas Government and its numbers are considered reliable by the UN and other international bodies.

Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Published – December 06, 2025 05:05 pm IST

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Palestinians stand in a heavily damaged building surrounded by rubble, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, on November 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinians carry water amid the ruins of Gaza City, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP