By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that the high-intensify ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip has ended.
“In the south of the Gaza Strip [the intensive phase] will end soon,” Gallant said, without giving an exact timeline.
Gallant said the army will carry out low-intensified operations in northern Gaza, adding that Israeli forces are working to locate the remaining Hamas sites in the area.
Israel has launched a deadly onslaught on the Gaza Strip since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, killing at least 24,100 people and injuring 60,834 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.
The offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar