Gaza is under a ceasefire that has not stopped Israeli strikes. This record explains the arrangement a new reader needs, the strikes of September 10–13, 2026, and the casualty counts on each side of the argument, with the source of every number.
What the ceasefire set. A US-backed agreement between Israel and Hamas was signed on October 9, 2025, and took effect on October 10, 2025. It halted large-scale fighting, secured the release of the remaining hostages, and had Israeli forces pull back to a demarcation line inside Gaza known as the Yellow Line, which was meant to be provisional pending later phases, including Hamas disarmament, a technocratic administration and an International Stabilization Force (ISF) under a Board of Peace chaired by President Trump. Phase two was announced in January 2026. As of February 2026, The Times of Israel reported that only 19 of more than 70 countries approached had expressed willingness to contribute to the ISF and that Hamas remained armed west of the line. In June 2026 PBS described progress as stalled over Hamas's refusal to disarm and Israel's continued military presence, with each side accusing the other of violations while saying the ceasefire remains in force.
What the Yellow Line is. It is the line Israeli forces withdrew to; Israel keeps direct control of the territory east of it, about 53 percent of the Strip according to Gisha, an Israeli human-rights organisation, and The Times of Israel. Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered it marked with yellow-painted concrete blocks on October 17, 2025; Gisha says the marking was never completed and that blocks have been moved westward at points. On December 17, 2025, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir called it "a new border line, a forward defensive line for the communities," which Gisha reads as contradicting its provisional status. The IDF says it operates east of the line "per the ceasefire agreement" and that Hamas has "systematically violated" the accord by rebuilding capabilities and attacking troops; in its Briefing Room for the week of September 6 it said troops had rendered more than 26 kilometers of tunnels inoperable east of the line. Separately, Gisha describes an "Orange Line" used by Israel's Coordination and Liaison Administration to restrict where international organisations may move without coordination, covering about 64 percent of Gaza after a March 8, 2026 update.
How the line works day to day. The IDF treats a Palestinian approaching or crossing eastward as a threat and has repeatedly said it fired on people who "crossed the Yellow Line" and "posed an immediate threat," labelling the incidents ceasefire violations; this site recorded two such IDF statements from northern Gaza on September 3, 2026. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, drawing on IDF reporting, counted 29 IDF-reported ceasefire violations between August 19 and September 3. Gisha, citing UN documentation, says 224 Palestinians were killed east of or near the line between October 10, 2025 and February 27, 2026. OCHA's September 4, 2026 situation report notes an explosive munition detonating about 30 metres from a UN convoy crossing the Yellow Line in Rafah on August 27. Israel also carries out targeted strikes west of the line against people it identifies as Hamas operatives.
The strikes of September 10–13. Late on September 10, an Israeli Air Force strike in Khan Younis killed Muhammad Abdul Salam al-Yazouri, known as Abu al-Haitham, the commander of Hamas's Khan Younis Brigade, the IDF and Shin Bet announced on September 11. The IDF said he had been the brigade's deputy commander, its combat-support battalion commander and its intelligence chief, had "advanced dozens of attacks on troops" in recent months and was working to restore the brigade's capabilities; it said the same strike killed a company commander, Hudheifa Muammar, and an operative, Muhammad Bahjat Rashi, and that a separate strike killed Moamen Jabr al-Sayed Abu Labda, described as a Rafah Brigade sniper-cell commander. Hamas published a "martyr poster" for Yazouri on Telegram before the IDF statement, according to The Times of Israel; that is Hamas's acknowledgment of his death and rank. On the morning of September 13, a strike on a vehicle in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of western Gaza City killed at least two people and wounded 13, medical staff and the Palestinian Red Crescent told Reuters and Haaretz; medics said the bodies were dismembered and asked the public for help identifying them. The IDF said the strike "targeted two Hamas operatives" and gave no further detail. The identities of the two dead, and whether they were the intended targets, are not established.
The counts. Gaza's Ministry of Health, as relayed in OCHA's September 4 situation report, counted 1,334 people killed and 4,429 injured between October 10, 2025 and September 2, 2026, with 31 killed in the week of August 26 to September 2; The Times of Israel on September 11 put the ministry's figures at more than 73,400 killed since October 7, 2023, and more than 1,330 since the ceasefire. The ministry does not distinguish combatants from civilians. The IDF does not publish a competing count of Palestinians killed since the ceasefire; it publishes named operatives it says it killed, eleven of them in the week of September 6. The Times of Israel reported in February that four Israeli soldiers had been killed since the pullback to the line. None of these figures has been independently reconciled.
What is not verified. Whether the September 13 dead were Hamas operatives; whether any of the Yellow Line shootings involved unarmed people, as Gisha and The Washington Post have reported for earlier cases; the current precise share of Gaza east of the line, which Israeli officials have described at 50 to 60 percent at various points in 2026; and the timetable for the ISF or any disarmament.
Assessment, ours. The Yellow Line has become the operative fact of the ceasefire: a line that Israel's chief of staff calls a border, that Hamas does not cross in force, and along which most post-ceasefire deaths occur. The September 10 strike shows Israel is still targeting Hamas's command echelon west of the line, and the September 13 strike shows the cost of that policy is carried in part by people whose identities are unknown at the time of the strike's announcement.
Still open / watch next: identification of the September 13 dead; the next OCHA situation report; any change in the IDF's stated violation count; movement on the ISF, disarmament or reconstruction; and any IDF or UN statement on the line's position.
Last checked: September 13, 2026.