The Israeli military has announced the withdrawal of its ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip, including Khan Younis.
The Israeli announcement came as the war in Gaza hit the six-month mark.
“Today, Sunday April 7th, the IDF’s 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Younis. The division left the Gaza Strip in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations,” the army said in a statement.
Nonetheless, it added that a “significant force led by the 162nd division and the Nahal brigade continues to operate in the Gaza Strip and will preserve the IDF’s freedom of action and its ability to conduct precise intelligence-based operations.”
It was unclear whether the reported withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Israeli leaders have said is needed to eliminate Hamas.
Commenting on the partial withdrawal, the White House said that it was likely to be an opportunity for troops to “rest and refit.”
“As we understand it, and through their public announcements, it is really just about rest and refit for these troops … and not necessarily that we can tell indicative of some coming new operation for these troops,” the White House’s National Security Spokesman, John Kirby said when asked about the step.
“They’ve been on the ground for four months, the word we’re getting is they’re tired, they need to be refit,” Kirby added.
Khan Younis residents, who rushed back to their city after Israeli forces relocated from southern Gaza, found a wasteland of destruction and rubble.
According to Israeli security analyst, Omer Dostri, the withdrawal is purely tactical and does not mean the war is anywhere near over.
“Under heavy pressure from its ally the US, pulling out ground troops from southern Gaza will help Israel in truce and captive-release talks with Hamas,” Dostri opined.
However, he predicted that Israeli soldiers will return to fight surviving Hamas members after displaced people are evacuated from Rafah, the far southern city on the Egyptian border.
“I predict that, after the evacuation of the residents, within two months there will be a [ground] move in Rafah to destroy the remaining Hamas brigades,” Dostri stated.
He estimated that one Hamas brigade remains in Rafah and a battalion and a half of its fighters are in the centre of the Gaza Strip, “mainly in Nuseirat.”
Dostri also predicted that, once those Gaza battles have ended, Israeli ground troops will step up operations against Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.
“Israel’s military logic dictates the elimination of Hamas’s military power before launching a campaign in the north,” he said.
Israeli Military Completes Another Training
Also on Sunday, the Israeli military disclosed that it has completed another stage in preparing for a possible war on its northern front with Lebanon and Syria.
It said that over the past few days, another phase of the northern command’s readiness for war was completed.
The phase was focused on “operational emergency storages for a broad mobilisation” of Israeli troops when required, the military said in a statement titled: “Readiness for the Transition from Defence to Offence.”
Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Israel have been trading fire across the border since October 8, the day after Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in response.
In recent months, the intensity and frequency of cross-border attacks have increased, as have fears of a regional escalation.
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