The U.N. human rights office said Israeli forces may be committing unlawful killings near the military armistice line in Gaza, after data showed that roughly a third of verified Palestinian deaths since the October truce occurred close to the boundary area.
The office said such actions could amount to war crimes if civilians were being shot merely for approaching the zone. Israel’s military, which says operations near the line are aimed at preventing militant attacks, did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Israel has marked the armistice boundary with Hamas using a “yellow line” painted on the ground and separated by concrete blocks. Israeli troops remain deployed to the east of the line, while Hamas controls territory further west along the coastal strip.
However, residents and aid agencies say the military has repeatedly moved the markers deeper into Gaza. Israeli military maps now indicate that a widened restricted zone covers nearly two-thirds of the enclave.
The expanding area under Israeli military control has heightened fears among displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents and damaged buildings near the boundary, amid concerns they could be treated as military targets simply for entering or approaching the area.
The U.N. data, shared exclusively with Reuters, documented 453 verified killings between the start of the ceasefire and February 5. Of those, 152 Palestinians — including 102 men, 15 women, 24 boys and 11 girls — were killed near the boundary area, the office said.
“The available information raises serious concerns that the Israeli army is shooting at and killing presumed civilians simply on the basis of their proximity to the so-called yellow line, which would amount to unlawful killings and thus war crimes,” said Ajith Sunghay, head of the U.N. Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Civilians do not appear to have posed any risk to the life of the Israeli military, including some cases in which they appear to have been shot while carrying out daily activities or having approached or crossed Israel’s so-called yellow line,” he said.
Sunghay added that the location of the boundary was often unclear to Palestinians.
“Nobody clearly knows exactly where it starts, where it ends, and how it moves, and when it moves,” he said.
Israeli officials describe the territory seized in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon as “buffer zones” intended to prevent future militant attacks following the Hamas-led assault on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza war.
The ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump has not stopped Israeli attacks in Gaza, and Israel has continued targeting Hamas leaders, killing two in the past fortnight.
Gaza health authorities say around 900 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce began, though they have not provided a breakdown by location.
Israel’s military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants during the same period. Hamas has not released figures for its own fighters killed in the war.
Spanish politicians traded blame on Thursday after the death of an 87-year-old woman who was evicted from her Madr...
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning Georgian Dream’s attempt to ban opposition pa...
The Nobel Peace Prize 2026 will be announced on Friday, 9 October, bringing one of the world's most closely watched awards back into focus....
Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone who had come into contact with a Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died last week, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted.
Russia struck Ukraine overnight in one of the biggest attacks of the conflict, killing at least 19 people, Kyiv's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Around 70 missiles were fired at Ukraine during the attack, as well as drones, the Ministry said.
Azerbaijan and the five Central Asian states have signed two key documents at the 8th Consultative Meeting of Heads of State in Turkmenbashi, formalising a broader framework for regional cooperation in transport, trade, energy, digitalisation and security.
The Saudi-led coalition says it has carried out a series of military operations against Houthi targets in Yemen after attacks on two Saudi airports left three people dead and dozens injured.
An investigation into August Hanning, the former head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), has no connection to Azerbaijan, informed sources have told AnewZ.
The leader of Yemen's Saudi-backed government announced the beginning of a major military operation against the Iran-backed Houthis on Sunday, aimed at seizing the territory under their control.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States meets seven conditions agreed under a June memorandum, as President Donald Trump signals he may soon decide whether to resume military operations against Tehran.
Governments from the Persian Gulf to the Horn of Africa are hedging against a conflict they cannot control, with contingency plans beginning to reshape trade routes, alliances and the regional map.
A supertanker which was cruising through the Strait of Hormuz was targetted by an unknown projectile off the coast of Oman, according to an Iranian news agency which said the vessel was “violating” navigation rules at the Strait of Hormuz on 1 October.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has accused the U.S. and Israel of seeking to foment internal divisions in Iran after failing to defeat the country militarily, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment