The Israeli navy mentioned it withdrew a division of floor troops from southern Gaza on Sunday, elevating questions on its plans because the struggle reached the six-month mark.
Israel has considerably lowered the variety of troops it has on the bottom in Gaza over the previous a number of months. Solely a fraction of the troopers that it had deployed within the territory earlier within the struggle stay.
The military mentioned that the 98th Division had left Khan Younis in southern Gaza so as “to recuperate and put together for future operations.” Israeli information media reported that the withdrawal of the 98th meant there have been no Israeli troops actively maneuvering in southern Gaza.
It was unclear what the most recent drawdown of forces meant for the prospect of an Israeli floor offensive in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost metropolis.
Regardless of warnings from the Biden administration {that a} floor invasion can be catastrophic for the multiple million Gazans sheltering there, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to invade town, saying on Sunday mentioned that Israel was decided to “full the elimination of Hamas in all the Gaza Strip, together with Rafah.”
The Israeli navy’s chief of employees, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, added in a briefing Sunday night time that “we’re removed from stopping,” although he didn’t point out Rafah by identify.
“Senior Hamas officers are nonetheless hiding,” he mentioned. “We are going to attain them in the end.”
Osama Asfour, 41, a resident of Khan Younis who’s sheltering in a tent in Rafah, mentioned the military’s announcement didn’t make him need to return to his metropolis — and his destroyed house — anytime quickly.
“The navy may say it left at present, however they will come again tomorrow,” Mr. Asfour, who had labored on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, mentioned in an interview. “I’m not going to go on an journey with my life and my household’s lives.”
Even so, Ahmed al-Soufi, a neighborhood official in Rafah, mentioned he had observed some displaced individuals within the metropolis had been returning to Khan Younis on Sunday.
A senior White Home official mentioned he was unsure what the withdrawal of the 98th division meant for the way forward for the struggle.
“It’s onerous to know precisely what that tells us proper now,” John Kirby, a White Home nationwide safety spokesman, mentioned on ABC’s “This Week.” “As we perceive it, and thru their public bulletins, it’s actually nearly relaxation and refit for these troops which were on the bottom for 4 months, and never essentially, that we will inform, indicative of some coming new operation for these troops.”
The departure of the 98th happened 4 months after Israeli forces invaded southern Gaza. For the reason that begin of the struggle, the military has returned to areas of Gaza that its forces had beforehand left, particularly within the north. Army officers have mentioned that Hamas has tried to re-establish itself in components of the north within the wake of Israel’s withdrawals.
Final week, the navy pulled again from Al-Shifa Hospital within the north after a two-week-long operation. It had first raided the hospital in November. This time the troops left behind what seemed to be a wasteland following prolonged gun battles with Palestinian militants in and across the advanced.
Mohammed Radi, 36, a displaced restaurateur from Gaza Metropolis who has been sheltering in Rafah together with his household, mentioned he was bored with the information about Palestinians within the enclave being killed and, greater than something, wished the struggle to finish.
“I really feel annoyed and mentally crushed,” he mentioned in an interview. “We’re exhausted after six months in tents.”
Iyad Abuheweila and Erica L. Inexperienced contributed reporting.
