Israel pulls troops out of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Rafah invasion still on cards
The troop withdrawal is a new strategy more in line with US demands for Israel to conduct precise operations, having left much of Gaza in rubble.
Israel said yesterday that it had withdrawn some of its troops from southern Gaza, as ceasefire talks resumed in Cairo and it came under growing pressure from the United States to end the six-month war.
The Israel Defence Forces said they had pulled back units to recuperate and prepare for further operations. Among those believed to have been withdrawn is the 98th Paratroopers Division, which operated around Khan Yunis, Hamas’s stronghold in the south.
“A significant force led by the 162nd Division and the Nahal Brigade continues to operate in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said, adding that they would “preserve freedom of action and the ability to conduct precise intelligence-based operations”. According to reports in Israeli media, the Nahal Brigade will be tasked with securing the Netzarim Corridor, which crosses Gaza from southern Israel to the coast.
The US and Britain have warned Israel that their support is not unconditional after a drone strike last week killed seven aid workers, including three Britons.
The White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, told ABC that the partial Israeli withdrawal was thought to be “just about rest and refit for these troops that have been on the ground for four months and not necessarily, that we can tell, indicative of some coming new operation”.
The IDF also said it had completed “another phase of the Northern Command’s readiness for war” on its front with Lebanon and Syria.
The new strategy would be more in line with US demands for Israel to conduct precise operations, having left much of Gaza in rubble. Israel says it has killed 12,000 members of Hamas, which provoked the war when it attacked on October 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping hundreds more.
Four Israeli soldiers were ambushed and killed in Khan Yunis on Saturday.
The Gaza operation has brought diminishing returns and Hamas is regrouping in areas supposedly cleared by the IDF. The Palestinian death toll has passed 33,000, according to the Hamas-led health ministry. According to the US and the United Nations, the territory’s population faces famine.
As many as 1.4 million people are seeking sanctuary in Rafah in southern Gaza, where Hamas’s leaders are thought to be hiding and where Israel believes the surviving Israeli hostages are being kept. Israel has insisted it is planning an operation in Rafah, despite international calls for a ceasefire.
Pressure to allow more aid into the territory and to end the war intensified last week after the drone strike last on a World Central Kitchen convoy. The IDF has dismissed and reprimanded several commanders.
The incident prompted President Biden to warn Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, that continuing US support would be conditional on Israel’s conduct. Within hours, Israel promised to reopen a crossing point to allow more aid through.
Netanyahu insisted yesterday (Sunday) that Israel was “one step away from victory” and there would be no truce before Hamas released the hostages. He is also under intense pressure on the home front, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv over the weekend to demand that he secure the release of hostages.
Israel and Hamas have sent delegations to Cairo for the latest round of ceasefire negotiations, which have faltered over some of Hamas’s demands that Israel withdraw its troops from populated areas and allow displaced Gazans to return to their homes.
If the talks are successful, a six-week ceasefire will ensue during which Hamas will release 40 hostages for a number of Palestinian prisoners. Hamas wants to choose prisoners serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis, and demands that Israel end the war before it will release its hostages.
According to a UN special representative, there is “clear and convincing” evidence that women and children held hostage have been subjected to rape and sexualised torture.
Biden has asked Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the negotiations, to push Hamas to accept a deal.
Fears that the war will spread across the region are mounting after an Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, last week, killing a top Iranian military commander.
Iran, which backs Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as well as militias in Yemen and Iraq that have conducted attacks on Israel since October, has vowed to retaliate. An adviser to Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said yesterday (Sunday) that none of Israel’s embassies were “safe any more”.
Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, said Israel was ready to respond “in the event of any scenario”.
The Times
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