By Said Amori
JERUSALEM (AA) — Tel Aviv is preparing to end its military ground operation in the Gaza Strip as part of the third stage of its war in the coming weeks, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
The broadcaster quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Israeli army "is preparing to move to the third phase of the fighting in Gaza during the coming weeks, in accordance with operational achievements."
"The third phase includes ending the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, reducing army forces and demobilizing reserves, resorting to air strikes, and establishing a buffer zone on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip," according to the sources.
The report claimed that the army "took control of most of the northern Gaza Strip area, while it faces great difficulties in moving forward in the southern Gaza Strip area."
At least 472 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground operation in the Palestinian enclave on Oct. 27, according to Israeli army figures.
The Walla news website and the Israeli Channel 12 broadcaster reported Thursday that one of the units in Gaza, known as the Golani Brigade, had lost 44 soldiers in 70 days of fighting. The brigade left Gaza to "reorganize their ranks and visit their families for a few days," it was reported.
Since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip, killing more than 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 53,320, according to health authorities in the enclave.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.
Residents in Gaza City are facing starvation, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday. “Hunger is present, and famine is looming in Gaza,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi