The Israeli army has vowed to sustain its war against Hamas fighters in near-rubble Gaza through the year 2024.
Hospital officials also reported that Israeli strikes in central Gaza on Sunday killed at least 35 people, as war raged across the tiny enclave a day after Israel’s prime minister said the war will continue for “many more months,” resisting international calls for a ceasefire.
The military said on Monday that thousands of Israeli soldiers are reportedly being shifted out of the Gaza Strip in the first significant drawdown of troops since the war began as forces continued to bear down on the main city in the southern half of the enclave.
In a briefing on Sunday that first announced the troop withdrawal without specifying how many forces were leaving, army spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, did not say whether the decision meant Israel was launching a new phase of the war.
He said that “Some of the reservists will return to their families and work this week. This will allow considerable relief for the economy, and will allow them to gather strength for the next activity in the coming year and the fighting will continue and we will still need them.”
The troop movement could signal that fighting is being scaled back in some areas of Gaza, particularly in the northern half where the military has said it is close to assuming operational control.
Israel has been under pressure from its chief ally, the United States, to begin to switch to lower-intensity fighting.
Word of the drawdown came ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region and after the Biden administration bypassed Congress for the second time this month to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel.
But fierce fighting continued in other areas of Gaza, especially the southern city Khan Younis and central areas of the territory.
Israel has pledged to charge ahead until its war aims have been achieved, including dismantling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years.
The military said in a statement Monday that five brigades, or several thousand troops, were being taken out of Gaza in the coming weeks for training and rest.
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in its war, which was sparked by the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people. Roughly 240 people were taken hostage.
Israel responded with a blistering air, ground and sea offensive that has killed more than 21,800 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.
Israel says more than 8,000 militants have been killed, without providing evidence.