Israel To Withdraw Ground Forces From Southern Gaza as Conflict Enters New Phase
The withdrawal after four months of pitched battles around Khan Yunis signifies what some military analysts described as a new phase of the conflict.
Israeli officials announced Sunday that it is withdrawing its troops from southern Gaza but will maintain at least one brigade in the northern section of the strip and keep it cut off from Khan Yunis and other cities in the south where Hamas still maintains some semblance of control.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the timing of the move, just days after Prime Minister Netanyahu clashed with President Biden over the scope of the conflict, is coincidental, but the move marks a significant de-escalation of the war and lessens the prospect of an imminent invasion of Rafah, one of the last major holdouts of the Hamas forces.
The IDF said the move was in part an effort to give the troops time to recuperate from weeks of intense combat in the south of the strip. After the withdrawal is complete, Israel will have an estimated 4,000 troops in Gaza instead of the roughly 30,000 it has as recently as January.
The announcement comes on the six month anniversary of the day, October 7, that hundreds of Hamas terrorists stormed out of the strip and murdered at least 1,200 Israeli men, women and children in southern Israel. It also comes on the same day that Israeli negotiators flew to Cairo for another round of meetings aimed at securing the release of the dozens of hostages presumed to be held in the strip by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists.
At the start of a cabinet meeting Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu said Israel is ready to make a deal with Hamas for the return of the 130 hostages but that it would not give in to what he called the âextremeâ demands of the Hamas terrorists. âThere will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages. It just wonât happen,â he said.
The move also comes just two days after Israel opened two critical crossings, at Erez and Ashdod, into Gaza to allow more humanitarian aid into the strip.
The withdrawal after four months of pitched battles around Khan Yunis signifies what some military analysts described as a new phase of the conflict, with widespread combat being scaled back in favor of more targeted antiterrorism operations at Gaza. The remaining brigade in the strip has been tasked with securing a corridor that effectively separates northern and southern Gaza and will allow humanitarian groups easier access to the northern section which remain under full Israeli control.
Israeli officials told the Times of Israel that 18 of Hamas 24 battalions in the Gaza strip have been eliminated or dismantled, though smaller cells may still exist. Four battalions remain intact in the southern city of Rafah, and another two may still be operational in the central part of the strip.
