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.”

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 26, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Palestinians make their way in a devasted neighborhood, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A major Gaza hospital said Friday (December 26, 2025) it had suspended several services because of critical fuel shortages in the devastated Palestinian territory, which faces a severe humanitarian crisis.

Ravaged by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat district cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.

“Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators,” said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital.

“Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and paediatrics.”

To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added.

Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 litres of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 litres available.

“We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel,” Mr. Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage “would pose a direct threat to the hospital’s ability to deliver basic services”.

Khitam Ayada, 30, who has taken refuge in Nuseirat, said she had gone to the facility after days of kidney pain.

But “they told me they didn’t have electricity to perform an X-ray… and that they couldn’t treat me,” the displaced woman told AFP.

“They gave me a painkiller and told me that if my condition didn’t improve I should go” to another hospital, she said.

“We lack everything in our lives, even the most basic medical services,” she added.

Hospital official Mehanna urged local and international organisations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady fuel supply.

Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.

While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organisations.

The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza’s 2.2 million people.

Health hard hit

The vast majority of Gaza’s residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for daily survival.

Gaza’s health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.

During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centres across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centres there, an allegation the group denied.

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza’s 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilisation centres for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.

The war in Gaza was sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people — also mostly civilians — have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

These figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.

Published – December 26, 2025 09:44 pm IST

Destroyed buildings and homes are seen in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on December 7, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

A dead person killed during an Israeli army strike is taken into the hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. File
| Photo Credit: AP

File photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
| Photo Credit: AP

The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faced its first major test on Sunday (October 19, 2025) as an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory was halted “until further notice” after a Hamas ceasefire violation, and Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on the halt in aid, a little over a week since the start of the U.S.-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.

Israel’s military earlier on Sunday (October 19, 2025) said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants in southern Gaza, and later said two soldiers were killed there.

Israel’s military said then it struck dozens of what it called Hamas targets. Health officials said at least 29 Palestinians were killed across Gaza, including children.

A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were underway to deescalate the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters.

There was no immediate U.S. comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but didn’t threaten to return to war.

Israel’s military said militants had fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to agreed-upon ceasefire lines.

Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.”

Palestinians quickly feared the return of war.

“It will be a nightmare,” said Mahmoud Hashim, a father of five from Gaza City, who appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump and other mediators to prevent the ceasefire’s collapse.

An Israeli airstrike on a makeshift coffeehouse in Zawaida town in central Gaza killed at least six Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

Another strike killed at least two people near the Al-Ahly soccer club in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said. The strike hit a tent and wounded eight others, said Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

The hospital said it also received the bodies of four people killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Nuseirat. Six others were killed in a tent in Nuseirat, one killed at a charging point west of Nuseirat and four killed at a house in Bureij camp.

Another strike hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least four people, including a woman and two children, according to Nasser Hospital.

A strike in Beit Lahiya in the north killed two men, according to Shifa hospital.

Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight.

Netanyahu’s office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker from Kibbutz Be’eri.

Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Engel’s wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.

Hamas in the past week has handed over the remains of 12 hostages.

Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it found the body of a hostage and would return it on Sunday “if circumstances in the field” allowed. It warned that any escalation by Israel would hamper search efforts.

Israel on Saturday pressed Hamas to fulfill its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages, saying the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice.”

Hamas says the war’s devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover. Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.

Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry posts photos of bodies on its website to help families attempting to locate loved ones. Some are decomposed and blackened. Some are missing limbs and teeth.

Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.

Israel and Hamas earlier exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

A Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal with mediators and other Palestinian groups, Hamas said in a statement.

The next stages are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Kassem said late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations “requires national consensus.” He said Hamas has begun discussions to “solidify its positions.”

The U.S. plan proposes the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run Gaza.

Kassem reiterated that Hamas won’t be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. He called for the prompt establishment of a body of Palestinian technocrats to run day-to-day affairs.

For now, “government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the (power) vacuum is very dangerous,” he said.

The Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side.

A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Authority’s Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents for entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter Gaza will need to apply at the embassy.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.