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As the delicate ceasefire in Gaza holds, a brand new concept to divide the Strip into two areas is gaining traction. On one facet can be life beneath Hamas’s grip. On the opposite, a imaginative and prescient of what life can be like with out the fear group.
With Arab states signaling they won’t fund reconstruction so long as the fear group stays in energy, U.S. and Israeli officers are weighing a brand new method of rebuilding in components of Gaza nonetheless beneath Israeli management behind what Israeli officers name the “yellow line.”
The hope, specialists clarify, is to create a residing instance of peace and restoration that would encourage change contained in the areas nonetheless dominated by Hamas.
The areas presently beneath Israeli management behind the so-called “yellow line” make up roughly 58% of the Gaza Strip, together with all of Rafah within the south, massive components of Khan Younis and northern neighborhoods similar to Beit Lahia and Shujaiyya. Hamas controls the remaining territory, together with densely populated Gaza Metropolis. Regardless of the IDF presence, Hamas operatives stay energetic close to the entrance strains.
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The IDF introduced that, as a part of the ceasefire settlement and in accordance with the directive of the political echelon, IDF troops beneath the Southern Command have begun marking the Yellow Line within the Gaza Strip to determine tactical readability on the bottom. (IDF)
John Spencer, govt director of the City Warfare Institute, described the plan to divide Gaza into two distinct zones — one beneath Israeli management and the opposite beneath Hamas — permitting rebuilding solely on the Israeli facet each a “sensible and psychological take a look at, a approach to present Gazans what life may seem like with out Hamas.”
Spencer used the time period “Disneyland technique” to explain the idea, which he stated was drawn from U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq.
“You’re taking any piece of the issue — right here we’re speaking about terrain — and also you filter all of the unhealthy: Hamas, tunnels, weapons, the whole lot,” he stated. “Then you definitely let civilians in, and also you construct one thing new — markets, buildings, faculties, electrical energy. We referred to as it Disneyland as a result of we wished it to seem like hope — like the longer term.”
He stated the concept follows the “clear, maintain, construct” mannequin utilized in Iraq and Afghanistan, the place troops secured neighborhoods one after the other.
“In Ramadi, we did it neighborhood by neighborhood till we coated the entire metropolis,” he stated. “You maintain it, clear it, let the locals take over. It’s traditionally confirmed. You don’t must rid Gaza of Hamas to start out this.”
The objective, Spencer stated, is to provide Gazans — and the world — a tangible glimpse of life with out Hamas.
Days after a ceasefire took impact, Gazans store in a market in central Gaza Oct. 18, 2025. (TPS-IL)
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“You construct slightly piece of goodness, slightly Disneyland, to indicate everyone what’s potential,” he stated. “It could additionally present the nations which can be going to offer stabilization forces one thing they may very well be doing — stabilizing cleared areas that don’t have Hamas in them.”
Nonetheless, he cautioned the idea isn’t any silver bullet.
“You should have areas on the opposite facet of the road the place Hamas thinks they’ve management,” he stated. “Constructing one thing with out Hamas is as necessary to defeating Hamas as it’s to exhibiting folks there’s a future.”
Inside Hamas-controlled Gaza, concern nonetheless defines every day life.
“For the reason that begin of the ceasefire, we’re terrified,” one resident informed Fox Information Digital, talking on situation of anonymity for concern of retaliation.
“We don’t wish to keep beneath Hamas. It’s very terrifying for us to listen to that Jared Kushner stated reconstruction will solely happen within the areas Hamas doesn’t management. Trump and Netanyahu stated Hamas will finish, however look what’s taking place. They’re again, stronger, and we’re nonetheless trapped.
On this nonetheless from a verified social media video confirmed to Reuters by a Hamas supply, seven males are compelled to their knees and shot from behind by Hamas gunmen throughout public executions in Gaza Oct. 14, 2025. (Reuters)
“There’s loads of meals. Sure, within the markets, meals is accessible, all kinds of food,” he continued. “All merchandise is accessible once more, and costs have gotten decrease and decrease. Life is again, however destruction is what we see in every single place.”
For some on this facet of the yellow line, the prospect of rebuilding a brand new Gaza on the opposite facet — even a small one — appears like freedom.
Hussam al-Astal, who leads an anti-Hamas militia in Khan Younis, informed Fox Information Digital, “We don’t search to rule Gaza, nor can we search energy. Our mission, after the rule and collapse of the Hamas-ISIS authorities, is to safe the folks and transfer them via the transitional part … to civilian establishments that govern in a means that pleases God, removed from their private pursuits.”
Hamas terrorists emerge in a present of energy escorting Pink Cross autos carrying three Israeli hostages to be launched as a part of the ceasefire deal. (TPS-IL)
He accused Hamas of turning its weapons inward in the course of the ceasefire.
“We demand the whole worldwide group defend us from Hamas’ terror,” he stated. “We’re not preventing for somebody’s rule. We’re preventing for a dignified life. We struggle for a brand new Gaza.”
A number of sources say Israel has already supplied restricted assist to al-Astal and different anti-Hamas factions on the bottom.
“We noticed a preview when the Majayda clan, in consort with anti-Hamas fighter Hussam al-Astal and aided by the IDF from the air, repelled Hamas in a localized battle,” Joseph Braude, president of the Middle for Peace Communications, informed Fox Information Digital. “That’s a small instance of what’s more likely to occur extra broadly — native forces, backed by Israel, pushing out Hamas from the bottom up.”
Spencer and Braude agree that the rising “two Gazas” actuality is not unintended. It’s constructed into the Trump administration’s 20-point plan.
Folks carry bins of aid provides from the Gaza Humanitarian Basis as displaced Palestinians return from an assist distribution heart within the central Gaza Strip June. 8, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP through Getty Photographs)
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“We’re approaching a brand new actuality wherein it’s possible for reconstruction to start in a portion of the Strip — the areas behind the yellow line — whereas preventing continues in the remainder of Gaza,” Braude stated. “Hamas shouldn’t be a celebration to the peace process however a belligerent actor. Reconstruction shouldn’t be contingent on Hamas’ cooperation. It begins the place Hamas can not function, whereas the trouble to eradicate its presence continues in different components of the Strip.”
Braude stated the plan envisions “nascent enclaves of self-rule that progressively evolve right into a coalition — the inspiration for what may very well be referred to as a Gazan Interim Transitional Authority.”
He concluded, “Creating native preventing forces to counter Hamas is a capability Gazans welcome and Israel and its allies have,” he stated. “Constructing a functioning authorities with continuity, a rules-based system, and establishments — that’s the tougher work.”
