Israel’s military said it withdrew a division of ground troops from southern Gaza on Sunday, raising questions about its plans as the war reached the six-month mark.
Israel has significantly reduced the number of troops it has on the ground in Gaza in recent months. Only a fraction of the soldiers he had deployed to the region earlier in the war remain.
The military said the 98th Division left Khan Younis in southern Gaza to “recover and prepare for future operations.” Israeli media reported that the 98 withdrawal meant there were no Israeli troops actively maneuvering in southern Gaza.
It was unclear what the latest troop withdrawal meant for the prospect of an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to invade the city, despite warnings from the Biden administration that a ground invasion would be devastating for the one million Gazans sheltering there.
On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel was determined to “complete the elimination of Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip, including Rafah”.
The army said its forces would remain in other parts of Gaza to maintain its “freedom of action and ability to conduct precise operations based on intelligence”.
Osama Asfour, 41, a resident of Khan Yunis sheltering in a tent in Rafah, said the army’s announcement did not make him want to return to his town — and his damaged home — anytime soon.
“The army may say it left today, but it may come back tomorrow,” Mr. Asfour, who had worked at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said in an interview. “I’m not going to get into an adventure with my life and my family’s life.”
Still, Ahmed al-Soufi, a local official in Rafah, said he had noticed some displaced people in the city returning to Khan Younis on Sunday.
A senior White House official said he was unsure what the withdrawal of the 98th Division meant for the future of the war.
“It’s hard to know exactly what that tells us right now,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC’s “This Week.” “As we understand it, and through their public announcements, all we can say is to rest and resettle these troops that have been on the ground for four months and not necessarily indicative of some new operation coming for them. troops.”
The departure of the 98th came about four months after Israeli forces invaded southern Gaza. Since the start of the war, the army has returned to areas of Gaza that its forces had previously abandoned, especially in the north. Military officials said Hamas had tried to re-establish itself in parts of the north after the Israeli withdrawals.
Last week, the army withdrew from Al-Shifa hospital in the north after a two-week operation. He had first raided the hospital in November. This time the troops left behind what appeared to be a desert after extensive firefights with Palestinian fighters in and around the compound.
Mohammed Radi, 36, a displaced restaurateur from Gaza City who has taken refuge in Rafah with his family, said he was tired of news of Palestinians in the enclave being killed and, more than anything, he wanted the conflict to end. war.
“I feel disappointed and mentally broken,” he said in an interview. “We’re exhausted after six months in tents.”
Iyad Abuheweila and Erica L. Green contributed to the report.
