Israel expands occupied zone in Gaza City’s Zeitoun, orders evacuations in Deir al-Balah

Israel extended the area under its control along Gaza’s eastern edge earlier this week, carrying out military operations in Gaza City and Deir al-Balah that forced people into displacement, eyewitnesses in both cities told Mada Masr. The two governorates lie adjacent to the “yellow line” established under the October ceasefire agreement, marking the zone that has remained under Israeli occupation. In recent months, Israeli forces have gradually pushed beyond that line, issuing evacuation orders farther west ahead of military advances. In Gaza City’s southeastern Zeitoun neighborhood, the Israeli military began operations on Saturday with heavy artillery shelling that forced dozens of families to flee westward, an eyewitness who lives in the neighborhood told Mada Masr. Military vehicles then advanced into eastern Zeitoun as far as Salah Eddin Road, bringing the Dawla and Mostawsaf areas within the occupied zone. After forcing residents to leave, the military “immediately began targeting anyone entering the area,” the eyewitness said. Two residents of Zeitoun said shelling continued over the next two days, driving further displacement. Early Sunday, three people were killed and several others injured when Israeli shelling hit a gathering of civilians on Kashko Street near the Dawla junction in southern Zeitoun, the residents told Mada Masr. Further south in central Gaza, Israeli forces ordered residents of Deir al-Balah’s Um Dhahir neighborhood to evacuate immediately on Saturday, a resident told Mada Masr. Later that night and into the early hours of Sunday morning, airstrikes hit around 12 homes, forcing out nearly 70 families and people who had taken refuge there after earlier displacement. The advances in Zeitoun continue a months-long expansion of Israeli control along Gaza’s eastern edge. Under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, Israeli forces were expected to withdraw and remain within a designated zone, which covers around 53 percent of the strip. But they have instead continued to expand beyond it. Aid workers told Reuters that Israeli military maps distributed to aid agencies in March showed the creation of a new “orange line” that increased the area under Israeli control by around 11 percent of Gaza’s territory. Israeli-backed militias have carried out raids within this new zone, forcing people out of their homes ahead of military advances.The post Israel expands occupied zone in Gaza City’s Zeitoun, orders evacuations in Deir al-Balah first appeared on Mada Masr.