Israeli armed forces withdrew a military division from Gaza

war in the middle east

Netanyahu’s government assured that the “intensive phase” of its offensive in the Strip was ending

“Intensive phase” of fighting in southern Gaza. “It will be over soon”, where did it go israeli defense minister After more than a hundred days of war, 24,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territories, according to Hamas. At the beginning of the war in October, “we clearly said that the intensive phase of the operation would last about three months,” Minister Yoav Galant said late Monday. He said, “In the north of Gaza, this phase is ending. In the south, we are going to get it and it will end soon.”

Israeli armed forces also informed this 36th Army Division, one of the four deployed in Gaza Strip, returns, to facilitate your rest and training. This brief withdrawal is part of a long-term war strategy and anticipates a possible escalation of the conflict on the border with Lebanon. The division was based in the north of the Gaza Strip in the area of ​​Zitan, Shati, Shejaya, Rimal and in refugee camps in the center of the Palestinian enclave. ,Armoured, sapper and infantry companies worked side by side in close combat with the help of artillery and in close cooperation with the air force and navy.

, “They attacked terrorist positions, killing hundreds of terrorists and destroying dozens of kilometers of tunnels,” Israel said in a military statement.

The 162nd Division is engaged in “cleanup” operations in the north of the Gaza Strip, while the 99th Division is in the center of the enclave and the 98th Division is in Khan Yunis and south of the area. In December, Israel had already withdrawn five brigades from the Gaza Strip after a reduction in the intensity of fighting in the northern part of the enclave.

Despite this return, all night long, Israeli planes bombed the Khan Yunis area, In the south of the Strip, the epicenter of fighting in recent weeks and where, according to the Jewish State Army, the local leadership of Hamas is taking refuge. The Palestinian Islamic Movement’s press office said a total of 78 people were killed and several injured in the latest nighttime bombings in Gaza. A day earlier, Hamas reported the deaths of two Israeli hostages through a video featuring a young woman kidnapped by the group announcing the deaths. “They were killed in the Zionist bombing of GazaThe Israeli military rejected these “lies” and condemned the “brutal use of innocent hostages,” the movement’s armed wing said.

“Danger of Famine”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once again called for “Immediate” humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza Strip, Which he considers necessary to ensure the arrival of aid to the population and to “facilitate the release of hostages”. The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, killing some 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. More than 300 soldiers are among those killed.

Islamic fighters also kidnapped about 250 people. According to recent estimates from Israeli officials, a hundred people were released during the November ceasefire, but 132 remained in Gaza, of whom 25 died. According to Hamas’ health ministry, Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed about 24,100 people, mostly women and minors. The conflict has displaced most of the small region’s 2.4 million residents.

In a joint statement, UNICEF, the World Food Program and WHO warned that “Threats of “famine” and “deadly disease epidemic” in Gaza, and called for “fundamental change” in the delivery of humanitarian aid, including opening new, “safer and faster” entry points. “The children don’t stop getting sick. They don’t stop having coughs and colds, their clothes aren’t thick enough to keep them warm,” Raida Oued told AFP from her family’s temporary shelter in the southern city of Rafah. ” Of Gaza.

extension of hostilities

The hostilities resulting from the war extend beyond the Gaza Strip. A woman was killed and 13 people were injured after being hit by a vehicle in a Tel Aviv suburb on Monday, according to police, who detained two Palestinian suspects. The conflict escalates regional tensions between Israel and its allies, on the one hand, and Iran and its “axis of resistance” made up of Hamas, Yemen’s Houthi rebels or the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, on the other. Is.

In the evening, Israel announced airstrikes against Hezbollah “bases” in the Lebanese town of Maroun ar Ras, near its northern border, where shelling occurs regularly. An American cargo ship was attacked by a missile fired by Houthis off the coast of Yemen on Monday. On Tuesday morning, the British maritime safety agency UKMTO reported a new “incident” in the Red Sea, although without giving further details. Last weekend, the United States and the United Kingdom bombed Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the group’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea in a show of “solidarity” with Palestinians in Gaza. And in Iran, Revolutionary Guards launched missile strikes against Syria and near Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where they said they destroyed an Israeli “espionage” center, the official IRNA agency said.