Gaza: The Israeli military says it has withdrawn its ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip, including Khan Younis, amid conflicting reports about the scale and duration of the disengagement.
“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 on Sunday.
“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 said.
The military confirmed the reported withdrawal to Reuters news agency, but added that one brigade has remained, without giving further details. An Israeli brigade is typically made of a few thousand soldiers.
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.
Meanwhile, according to some media reports, the Israeli claim of withdrawal could be a “new strategy”.
“We’re told that they don’t need that number of troops to put this new strategy into place,” according to Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem.
“But if you listen to the Israeli military analysts, you get a slightly different take on things. What we are hearing is that this could be a redeployment of forces in order to get ready for a ground offensive into Rafah,” Khan said, noting that the United States is “dead set” against the plan.
The White House, commenting on the partial withdrawal, said it was likely to be an opportunity for troops to “rest and refit”.
“They’ve been on the ground for four months, the word we’re getting is they’re tired, they need to be refit,” said the White House’s National Security Spokesman John Kirby.
Agencies

Agencies