Nearly a week ago, Hussam al-Astal, who leads an Israeli-backed armed group operating in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, appeared in a video announcing the start of an operation he described as a “cleansing of displacement camps in the Mawasi area.”
His remarks came after an attack by another armed group linked to the Israeli military, which resulted in the abduction of dozens of residents from an area theoretically considered to be under Hamas control in Gaza.
Since the ceasefire agreement was announced in October 2025 under US President Donald Trump’s plan, an imaginary boundary known as the “Yellow Line” has separated Israeli-occupied areas east of the line, estimated at more than 60 percent of the Gaza Strip, from areas west of it held by Hamas and other Palestinian factions.
However, intensified operations by Israeli-backed armed groups, including abductions and forced displacement under covering fire from the Israeli military, have raised new questions about the extent of the territory where Hamas still exercises authority.
More than a year after the ceasefire agreement, which Israel has repeatedly violated, Israeli forces have also shifted their positions along the Yellow Line, expanding the area they occupy to more than 65 percent of the Gaza Strip’s approximately 360 square kilometers.
Last week, members of armed groups infiltrated a displacement camp near Abu Hamid roundabout, between central and eastern Khan Younis. Reinforcements subsequently arrived in four-wheel-drive vehicles, while Israeli drones flew overhead to provide support.
The operation resulted in the abduction of 35 Palestinians. Some were released after more than 10 hours of intensive interrogation by Israeli officers, while three remained in captivity.
A similar operation took place at an intersection near the Shujaiya neighborhood. Dozens of those detained were released, while one person remained in custody.
Israeli Occupation Extends Beyond the Yellow Line
According to a map of the areas occupied by Israel, Israeli forces now hold 67 percent of the Gaza Strip as they continue expanding the area covered by the Yellow Line.
In northern Gaza, the Israeli military occupies the entire town of Beit Hanoun, at the northernmost end of the territory, parts of Beit Lahia and a larger section of Jabalia refugee camp.
In Gaza City governorate, which includes the territory’s main urban center, Israeli forces hold all the city’s eastern neighborhoods, including Tuffah, Shujaiya and Zeitoun. Small areas of Zeitoun remain inhabited by displaced Palestinians living under difficult security and humanitarian conditions.
Central Gaza has recently witnessed extensive military activity, with Israeli forces expanding their positions by pushing the Yellow Line farther west, particularly around the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, al-Masdar and areas east of Deir al-Balah.
These operations have forced more Palestinians to flee their homes and shelters in recent days.
In southern Gaza, Israel occupies the entire city of Rafah, apart from a small section of Mawasi in the city’s northwestern area, along the southern boundary with Khan Younis.
Israeli forces also occupy large parts of southern Khan Younis, while Mawasi remains under Palestinian authority. The city’s eastern areas, meanwhile, remain entirely under Israeli occupation.
Where Is Hamas?
Four Hamas field sources and two sources from other Palestinian factions told Asharq Al-Awsat in separate accounts that Israeli forces hold most Palestinian areas east of Salah al-Din Road, the main highway connecting northern, central and southern Gaza.
Israeli forces also occupy large parts of the territory’s northern and southern regions.
The sources, who are based in different parts of Gaza, said residents west of Salah al-Din Road, as well as those in areas south of the northern region and north of the southern region, continue to observe a Hamas presence and authority.
However, the movement faces complicated circumstances that prevent it from fully maintaining security and order.
One source estimated that “Hamas’ grip has become fragile and effectively extends to no more than 17 to 20 percent of the Gaza Strip.”
Nevertheless, Hamas has been seeking to assert its presence by proposing humanitarian projects for residents and attempting to confront Israeli-backed armed groups militarily.
Its members have set ambushes for armed men infiltrating areas under its authority, but the Israeli military frequently intervenes to provide covering fire for the groups it supports.
In Gaza City governorate, which once served as the center of Hamas’s political, governmental and security activities, the movement’s position remains unstable because of Israeli attacks targeting the leadership of Hamas, its government and its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Central Gaza currently represents the area where Hamas and its various institutions retain their strongest presence.
According to the sources, this is largely because the central region did not suffer the same level of damage as other parts of the territory during the war, and Israeli ground forces entered only limited sections of it.
In Khan Younis, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, Hamas faces more complicated conditions. Nevertheless, its hold there can be described as moderate, particularly in the densely populated Mawasi area, which shelters large numbers of displaced Palestinians.
The movement relies on ambush tactics to confront the threat posed by armed groups and Israeli forces in southern and eastern Khan Younis, as well as in the eastern parts of the governorate’s central areas.
These include locations around Abu Hamid roundabout and the Khan Younis municipal headquarters.
Israeli Firepower Extends Beyond Its Positions
Two field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the differences between areas where Hamas maintains a strong security presence and those where its grip is fragile can be attributed to several factors.
Among them is Israel’s ability to dominate areas from a distance using elevated platforms and drones, as well as airstrikes targeting anyone approaching areas near Salah al-Din Road from the western side in certain locations.
Another factor is Israel’s use of armed groups as a means of extending its reach by pushing farther into areas close to the road.
This has occurred particularly in southern and eastern Khan Younis, northwestern Mawasi in Rafah, eastern Gaza City, and the areas around Jabalia and Beit Lahia in northern Gaza.
More recently, similar operations have also taken place in central Gaza.
The two sources explained that this complex security situation makes it difficult for government security forces or other personnel to reach areas close to the western side of Salah al-Din Road.
As a result, extensive additional areas have effectively fallen under indirect Israeli security control.
This allows armed groups, people collaborating with Israel and others to operate freely in those locations.
The sources said Hamas’ so-called “resistance security” apparatus has responded by periodically setting ambushes for members of these groups, seeking to kill or capture them and prevent them from carrying out their plans.
According to a third source, the Israeli military uses the armed groups to conduct sweeping operations in new areas beyond the Yellow Line, east of Salah al-Din Road.
Israeli forces then advance into those same areas, either several hours later on the same day or the following day, carrying out engineering operations, including bulldozing land and other activities.
The military subsequently extends the Yellow Line to expand the territory under its direct occupation.
The three sources said Israeli forces kill or wound anyone attempting to cross Salah al-Din Road, particularly in areas opposite Khan Younis in the south and Gaza City in the north.
They added that Israeli operations have recently intensified east of Deir al-Balah and al-Masdar in central Gaza.
Israeli forces have also increasingly targeted people approaching areas on the western side of the road, suggesting that the territory over which Israel exercises dominance through firepower now exceeds 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.
Open Defiance
A fourth Hamas source defended the movement’s loss of security authority during and after the war, describing it as “natural” given the changes that occurred in Gaza during Israeli ground incursions into its cities.
The source said government security agencies and those affiliated with Palestinian factions had repeatedly attempted to maintain order deep inside the western areas of the Gaza Strip.
However, each attempt was met with renewed attacks, most of them Israeli airstrikes targeting security positions in forward areas or even locations far from territory directly occupied by Israel.
The Hamas source acknowledged that the weakening of security had recently prompted some members of local families to engage in what he described as “open defiance” of attempts to arrest them in connection with criminal cases.
Some had opened fire on Hamas police officers, while in one incident individuals seized a weapon. Family elders subsequently intervened, and legal and tribal settlements were reached.
As an example, the source cited an incident in Deir al-Balah a few days earlier in which a member of a local clan killed two police officers during an attempt to arrest him.
The deterioration in security has been compounded by intensive Israeli attacks targeting Hamas’ security apparatus.
According to Gaza’s Interior Ministry, these systematic attacks have killed 76 police officers and security personnel since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
