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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://mondoweiss.net/2026/05/how-israel-is-using-militias-and-concrete-blocks-to-seize-what-remains-of-gaza/?ml_recipient=187987189065320364&ml_link=187987130764494753&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2026-05-20&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation+-+8am">mondoweiss.net</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">How Israel is using militias and concrete blocks to seize what remains of Gaza</h1>
<span class="gmail-post-author"><span class="gmail-by">By</span> <a href="https://mondoweiss.net/author/tareqhajjaj/" title="Posts by Tareq S. Hajjaj" class="gmail-author gmail-url gmail-fn" rel="author">Tareq S. Hajjaj</a></span>
<span class="gmail-meta-sep"></span>
<span class="gmail-date-link">May 19, 2026</span>
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<img src="cid:ii_mpe81yim0" alt="image.png" width="497" height="349"><br><p>
<font size="1">Israeli forces demolish a house near the \u201cYellow Line,\u201d dropping
leaflets for residents to leave the al-Raqab al-Gharbi neighborhood,
adjacent to Salah al-Din Street in the town of Bani Suheila, east of
Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, January 19, 2026. (Photo: Tariq
Mohammad/APA Images) </font></p><p>On the morning of May 13, residents near al-Hikma Mosque in eastern
Deir al-Balah began receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be
\u201cCaptain Abu Omar,\u201d an Israeli army officer, ordering them to evacuate
their homes and move more than 200 meters west of the mosque. He gave
them less than one week to leave.</p>
<p>That same afternoon, armed fighters loyal to Shawqi Abu Nuseira, a
militia leader in Gaza who residents say is armed and protected by the
Israeli military, stormed the same neighborhoods the army had warned
hours earlier. According to residents, they delivered the same message,
telling them to evacuate.</p>
<p>The scene in Deir al-Balah is part of a broader pattern unfolding
across Gaza. Since the beginning of May, Israeli forces have been
pushing the yellow concrete blocks that demarcate the so-called \u201c<a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2025/11/theres-a-yellow-line-dividing-gaza-is-it-here-to-stay/">Yellow Line</a>\u201d deeper into areas of the Strip nominally under Hamas control. According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-maps-outline-expanded-zone-military-control-gaza-2026-04-29/">Reuters</a>,
the line has seized an additional 11% of Gaza\u2019s territory, bringing the
total area under Israeli military control to 65%. At the start of the
ceasefire in October 2025, Israel controlled 53% of the Strip, an
arrangement that was supposed to be temporary and lead to a gradual
Israeli withdrawal from the enclave. The new expansion has come to be
known as the \u201corange line,\u201d confining over 2.2 million Palestinians to
what remains of Gaza.</p>
<img width="497" height="443" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/orange-line-map-screenshot.png" alt="A map of the "orange line" distributed by the Israeli army to international organizations (Photo: Screenshot/GISHA)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">A map of the \u201corange line\u201d distributed by the Israeli army to international organizations (Photo: Screenshot/GISHA)
<p>Abu Nuseira, according to residents in central Gaza and Khan Younis,
was once a longtime militant with the Palestinian Authority\u2019s security
forces in Gaza, with a long history of fighting against Israel. He lost a
son in the early weeks of the 2023 war, after which he began to more
aggressively move against Hamas. He and his militia now operate from
area under Israeli control, and they are widely regarded in Gaza as
collaborators who receive arms and logistical support from Israel.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reel/976520525233422">video</a>
posted to the militia\u2019s Facebook page, Abu Nuseira appears surrounded
by heavily armed and masked men. He says he is \u201cprotecting people\u2019s
lives,\u201d and that their \u201ccontinued suffering is linked to Hamas\u2019s refusal
to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip.\u201d When he finishes
speaking, his men repeatedly chant, \u201cDeath to Hamas.\u201d</p>
<p>Muhammad al-Amour, a resident of eastern Deir al-Balah, told <em>Mondoweiss</em>
that some families received direct evacuation calls from the Israeli
army, and that the militias arrived in those same areas on the same day,
\u201cnotifying residents, including dozens of displaced people and homes
near the Yellow Line in eastern Deir al-Balah.\u201d Al-Amour said residents
took the warnings seriously and began evacuating their homes, fearing
they would be shot by the militias or bombed by the army if they stayed.
\u201cThis has happened repeatedly to other families in different areas
throughout the war,\u201d he said.</p>
<img width="497" height="331" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/211125_Gaza_OSH_0010-1024x683.jpg" alt="The "Yellow Line" cutting Gaza on half in November 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">The \u201cYellow Line\u201d cutting Gaza on half in November 2025. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)
<h2><strong>Gaza\u2019s new \u2018Berlin wall\u2019</strong></h2>
<p>In Khan Younis in the south, the orange line has moved to within
approximately 200 meters of areas where displaced people are sheltering.
Palestinians have compared the yellow and orange lines to the Berlin
Wall and, at other times, to the apartheid wall that cuts through the
occupied West Bank. This invisible boundary separates tens of thousands
of families from their homes, lands, and property in areas where the
army continues to demolish what remains standing.</p>
<p>Mahmoud al-Raqab, a displaced resident of Khan Younis living around 300 meters from the Yellow Line, told <em>Mondoweiss</em> that the line\u2019s continued advance toward residential areas is \u201cextremely dangerous.\u201d</p>
<p>\u201cSadness, anxiety, and fear overwhelm us as this expansion continues
toward what remains of our land, our neighborhood, and our tents,\u201d he
said. \u201cIt is shrinking the spaces available to us, preventing us from
even walking near our homes, and increasing the likelihood of more land,
homes, tents, and businesses being seized.\u201d</p>
<p>Al-Raqab said he sees what is happening as identical to the land
confiscation and movement restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the
West Bank and buffer zones. \u201cIt is destroying any hope that the rest of
my family and our neighbors will one day return to live alongside them
again,\u201d al-Raqab told <em>Mondoweiss</em>.</p>
<img width="497" height="331" src="https://mondoweiss.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/270426_Khan_Yunis_RA_004-1024x683.jpg" alt="Palestinians near the so-called "yellow line" east of Khan Younis live amid difficult conditions, April 27, 2026. (Photo: Ramzi Abu Amer/APA Images)" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">Palestinians
near the so-called \u201cyellow line\u201d east of Khan Younis live amid
difficult conditions, April 27, 2026. (Photo: Ramzi Abu Amer/APA Images)
<p>\u201cThe army is expanding its occupation over vast agricultural lands
and open areas near Salah al-Din Street and the eastern regions, while
digging deep trenches to prevent entry into the area and deny
Palestinians the ability to cultivate it again,\u201d he added. The eastern
region is considered Gaza\u2019s \u201cvegetable basket,\u201d home to farms, olive and
citrus trees, and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families who
own land in eastern Khan Younis.</p>
<p>\u201cThis is a new apartheid wall being established in the Gaza Strip,\u201d
he said. \u201cToday, they place concrete blocks. Tomorrow, they will build
high walls. They are separating our lands, placing barriers between us
and our homes, imposing restrictions on our movement to our houses,
farms, and lands, separating people from their property and original
areas, and gradually swallowing our land before our eyes.\u201d</p>
<p>Al-Raqab said he has watched the line advance approximately eight
times over the past 12 months, and that je personally witnessed the
Orange Line\u2019s most recent expansion. He said that it cut off new areas
stretching from Dar al-Salam Hospital to the Bani Suhaila roundabout
east of Khan Younis along Salah al-Din Street, as he lives in an area
adjacent to the line.</p>
<p>\u201cWe have nothing to do with this line,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t ignore it
and go to our homes: we will get killed immediately. It\u2019s not heroism to
go get killed. It\u2019s not a personal issue for me and my home and land.
An occupation is stealing my entire homeland, not just my land. And if
we can\u2019t do anything now to get our land back, that does not mean we
forget about it. We will keep it in our hearts and minds until we
return.\u201d</p>
<hr>
<p><br><strong>Tareq S. Hajjaj</strong><br>Tareq S. Hajjaj is the Gaza
Correspondent for Mondoweiss and a member of the Palestinian Writers
Union. Follow him on Twitter/X at <a href="https://twitter.com/Tareqshajjaj">@Tareqshajjaj</a>.</p>
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