What is left of Gaza? | news

The geography shrinks and the horizon recedes with each passing day since the start of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, while questions intensify regarding the fate of a sector that lives under the weight of shifting maps and escalating restrictions.

While Gaza is trying to catch its breath amid a fragile truce, the facts on the ground appear far from any stability, with continued violations and the expansion of the areas over which Israel has extended its control, and the stranglehold on the lives of more than two million people.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ahmed Jarrar’s report outlines the features of this complex scene, based on official data and field testimonies that reveal the size of the gap between what the agreement stipulated and what was actually achieved on the ground.

In just 50 days, the Government Information Office monitored dozens of violations that focused on preventing the entry of aid and disrupting the movement of displaced people, in addition to the Israeli army’s insistence on remaining in the yellow zone and trying to expand it.

The details show that the map of control declared in the agreement only lasted a few days in the face of rapid changes. Between the texts of the agreement and the borders of the maps, a different equation emerged, as the land of Gaza began to shrink little by little, and the safe spaces for the population declined.

Yellow line

The yellow line – which was formed to be the dividing line between the areas of Israeli control and the areas allocated to the Gazans – was supposed to gradually retreat with the transition to the second stage, but it went exactly the opposite.

Initially, Israeli control behind the Yellow Line was estimated at about 53% of the Gaza Strip’s area, and would decrease later. However, field facts – according to Hamas – showed that the army repeatedly crossed this line, and carried out approximately 600 violations, including raids, artillery shelling, incursions, and direct shooting.

These violations – as confirmed by government agencies in Gaza – left more than 350 martyrs and about 900 wounded, a toll that reflects the expansion of the scope of operations despite the validity of the agreement. The army was not satisfied with that, but began to push the yellow line westward to swallow more land, especially in the neighborhoods of Gaza and its north.

50 days after the agreement entered into force, the actual control of the Israeli army reached approximately 58% of the area of ​​the Gaza Strip, which made changing maps a daily reality and not just estimates, and the repercussions of this exceeded the limits of geography to be directly reflected in the lives of the residents.

Today, more than two million Palestinians live in a narrow strip along the coast, amid huge masses of rubble surrounding camps and temporary housing, and the displaced constitute about half of this number, while tens of thousands of families are crowded into dilapidated camps that lack the most basic necessities for survival.

Really difficult

In this narrow, confined strip, life has become almost impossible, as there are no good roads, no water or electricity networks, and no sewage infrastructure. As for medical facilities, their ability to provide the minimum level of care to tens of thousands of sick and wounded people has collapsed, in light of the lack of resources and the absence of supplies.

This harsh reality forced hundreds of thousands of displaced people to share primitive facilities and stand in long lines to obtain what would prevent them from dying of hunger or thirst.

Humanitarian aid has become the only lifeline, but it is subject to complete Israeli control, which controls its quantities, contents, entry points, and the parties allowed to receive it.

Although the agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks per day, the Palestinian authorities confirm that the actual number did not exceed at best 220 trucks per day, that is, less than a third of the agreed upon number. This sharp decline leads to an exacerbation of the humanitarian crisis and accelerates the collapse of the remaining services.

Between the pressures of the displaced and the difficulty of aid arriving, Gaza appears as if it is being forcibly reshaped according to new maps and harsh field realities, and residents find themselves trapped between an agreement that was not respected, an increasingly fragile reality, and a daily battle for survival.

In fact, what remains of Gaza today is a narrow, breathing space with residents facing a series of restrictions and threats, while maps are changing at a speed that exceeds the ability of humans to adapt to them.