By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army confirmed Monday that it has moved from large-scale air and ground attacks to a more targeted campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the new phase involves fewer troops and airstrikes in the Palestinian enclave.
“The war shifted a stage. But the transition will be with no ceremony,” Hagari told The New York Times. “It’s not about dramatic announcements.”
The spokesman said the Israeli army will continue to reduce the number of its forces in Gaza, and will conduct "one-off raids there instead of maintaining wide-scale maneuvers."
Hagari confirmed that the reduction of Israeli forces in Gaza began last month, saying the army will focus its attacks on Hamas strongholds in central Gaza’s city of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis in Gaza’s south.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said early Monday that Israel plans to shift to a “long” third phase of the Gaza war.
Israeli forces will shift from the "intense maneuvering phase of the war” toward “different types of special operations," Gallant told The Wall Street Journal, without providing details or dates for this phase.
The next phase in the war "will last for a longer time," he said.
According to Israeli media, the third phase includes targeted airstrikes, the withdrawal of forces, and the establishment of a buffer zone near the Gaza border.
Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.
At least 23,084 Palestinians have since been killed and 58,926 others injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.
Writing by Ahmed Asmar