The Israeli military said it has withdrawn its ground forces from Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of fierce fighting. <\/p>\n
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that its 98th division had \u201cconcluded its mission\u201d in Khan Younis. The division was leaving the Gaza Strip to \u201crecuperate and prepare for future operations.\u201d <\/p>\n
The IDF added that \u201ca significant force led by the 162nd division and the Nahal brigade continues to operate in the Gaza strip, and will preserve the IDF\u2019s freedom of action and its ability to conduct precise intelligence based operations.\u201d <\/p>\n
An Israeli brigade typically has roughly a few thousand troops, but it remains unclear precisely how many Israeli troops have withdrawn from Gaza. <\/p>\n
As of January, the 98th\u00a0division was the military\u2019s biggest-ever division, as it was specifically bolstered to fight Hamas in Khan Younis. <\/p>\n
IDF Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said at a news conference Sunday the military is \u201cfar from stopping\u201d its operations in the Gaza Strip following the withdrawal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not leave any Hamas brigades active \u2013 in any part of the Gaza Strip. We have plans and will act when we decide,\u201d he said, adding that the military\u2019s goals in Gaza have not been fully achieved, including the return of all hostages, the return of displaced residents to the north and the dismantling of Hamas throughout Gaza. <\/p>\n
In response to a question about the effect of the military\u2019s withdrawal of ground forces from Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Halevi said, \u201cthe military wing of Hamas is deterred, the vast majority of its battalions are dismantled and lost their capabilities. That military framework, which had many capabilities, is currently running as small terrorist cells.\u201d <\/p>\n
Halevi reiterated that the IDF has not left the Gaza Strip and that there are \u201cmany troops at this very hour\u201d in the strip. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a long war; we can\u2019t maintain the same (extent of) troop deployment,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cmany achievements are yet to come on our way to the victory.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear what the withdrawal means for Israel\u2019s plans to invade Rafah, the southernmost part of Gaza that has become a shelter for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Israel has said an incursion into Rafah is essential to achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas from Gaza. <\/p>\n
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that the troops were leaving Gaza to prepare for follow-up missions, including in the Rafah region. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe troops exit and prepare ahead of their follow-up missions. We saw examples of such missions in action in Shifa. And also for their follow-up mission in the Rafah region,\u201d Gallant said in remarks during his visit to the military\u2019s Southern Command. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are reaching a situation where Hamas does not control the Gaza Strip and that it does not function as a military framework that poses a risk to the citizens of the State of Israel,\u201d Gallant said, noting that he has completed a situational assessment of the IDF Southern Command as its forces are pulling out of Khan Younis. <\/p>\n
The defense minister added that Israeli forces in Khan Younis were successful in destroying \u201cenemy targets, warehouses, weapons, underground [infrastructure], headquarters [and] communication rooms.\u201d <\/p>\n
Speaking to ABC\u2019s \u201cThe Week,\u201d White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said it was unlikely the move was sign of some incoming new operation but rather a \u201crest and refit.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been on the ground for four months. The word we\u2019re getting is they\u2019re tired, they need to be refit.\u201d <\/p>\n
The US is Israel\u2019s major ally but has been pressuring the country to do more to protect civilians and allow in aid. <\/p>\n
In a call this week between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden told Netanyahu to take steps to address the crisis or face consequences. <\/p>\n
The IDF began its campaign against Hamas in Gaza\u2019s north soon after the October 7 attacks that killed about 1,200 people. Early in the war, the Israeli military designated Khan Younis as a safer zone and told residents from northern Gaza to seek shelter there. <\/p>\n
But as the IDF increasingly switched its focus to the south, the city became a battleground. <\/p>\n
On December 1, the Israeli military launched a massive air raid operation on Khan Younis, dropping leaflets into the city telling residents to immediately evacuate. <\/p>\n
The IDF says the city is a Hamas stronghold, adding that the tunnel network underneath civilian buildings in the city was likely where Hamas planned the October 7 attacks from. The city is the hometown of Hamas\u2019 leader in Gaza,\u00a0Yahya Sinwar. <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional developments.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n The Israeli military said it has withdrawn its ground forces from Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of fierce fighting. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that its 98th division had \u201cconcluded its mission\u201d in Khan Younis. The division was leaving the Gaza Strip to \u201crecuperate and prepare for future operations.\u201d The <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}