The Israel Defense Forces has withdrawn all but one brigade from southern Gaza, an IDF spokesperson announced on Sunday, as the war against Hamas reached the six-month mark.
The withdrawal of troops comes as Israel faces mounting international pressure to address the humanitarian crisis inside Gaza — calls that have only grown after a recent IDF airstrike killed seven aid workers who were delivering food to the starving Palestinian population.
The IDF denied that the withdrawal of troops was connected to pressure from Washington, saying instead that they had run out of useful military intelligence in the border city of Khan Younis.
"We are willing to operate whenever we're needed, but there's no need for us to remain in the sector without an [operational] need," an IDF official told the Israeli outlet Haaretz. "The 98th division dismantled Hamas' Khan Yunis brigades and killed thousands of its members. We did everything we could there."
The spokesperson also said that by leaving Khan Younis, some Palestinians would be able to leave Rafah — a geographically small city that has swelled with civilians displaced from elsewhere in Gaza. The Israeli government has discussed a Rafah ground invasion for weeks, in the face of public opposition from the United States government.
In the six months since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that sparked the ongoing war, the situation inside Gaza has grown increasingly dire. At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. People in northern Gaza are subsisting on an average of 245 calories per day, according to Oxfam International. The region is also considered the most dangerous place in the world for journalists and aid workers.
"Our mission was to dismantle Hamas' Khan Yunis Brigade, and we succeeded in that," the IDF spokesperson told Haaretz.
"Our second mission was to return the hostages, and we failed in doing so. The operation in the Al-Shifa hospital compound contributed to the decision to change our perception concerning the fighting in the southern Strip."
There are still more than 100 Israeli hostages believed to be held by Hamas inside Gaza. The decision to withdraw from Khan Younis was met with praise from some of the hostages' families and criticism from others.
"The government's decision to withdraw the forces from Gaza...proves that the IDF succeeded in providing Israel many military achievements and has hindered Hamas' capabilities," Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. "The withdrawal of the forces should be the first step in the hostage deal."
Conversely, the Tikvah Forum, a group of families who want increased military action, said that the Israeli government "did not keep its word."
"We demand that Israel's political leadership and the IDF will [give the order to] return to Gaza and complete the task," they said.
