The Israeli military says it has withdrawn its ground forces from Khan Younis in southern Gaza after months of fighting but a "significant force" remains in other areas of the besieged strip.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that its 98th division had “concluded its mission” in Khan Younis. The division left the Gaza Strip to “recuperate and prepare for future operations,”, it announced.
A “significant force led by the 162nd division and the Nahal brigade continues to operate in the Gaza strip”, the IDF added.
The move raises questions over Israel’s much-touted plan to invade Rafah, the heavily populated area of southern Gaza that has so far escaped on the ground fighting.
The Israeli military ground operation began in Khan Younis on Dec. 3 with the aim of recovering Israeli hostages held by the Hamas movement. However, based on the army’s claims, the Israeli forces left the city without achieving its goals.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early last October by the Palestinian group, Hamas, killed less than 1,200 people.
Nearly 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and almost 75,900 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
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