UPDATE – Israeli army withdraws from Gaza’s Khan Younis: Report

UPDATES WITH HAMAS’ MESSAGE

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli media reported on Sunday that the Israeli army had withdrawn from the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The 98th Division, with its three brigades, withdrew from Khan Younis last night after the end of the operation there after fighting that lasted four months,” Army Radio reported.

It added that there is only one brigade left in Gaza, the Nahal Brigade, which is responsible for securing the corridor established by the Israeli army to prevent Gazans from returning to the north.

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources told Anadolu that Israeli army forces retreated from all western areas of the city of Khan Younis while they remained stationed east of the city.

“As of this stage of the maneuver, the Israeli army has completed its operation in Khan Younis and soldiers have completed their exit from there,” the Israeli Channel 12 said.

“Forces consisting of four different brigades are now stationed in the humanitarian corridor and in the northern Gaza Strip in the Beit Hanoun area,” it said.

It indicated that "the Israeli army will focus on the method of raids based on available intelligence information."

The channel did not rule out that the Israeli army's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was to prepare soldiers for a ground operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said the maneuvering Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip except for those in Gaza City to prevent the return of the Palestinians to the north.

The Israeli military ground operation began in Khan Younis on Dec. 3 with the aim of recovering Israeli hostages held by the Hamas movement. However, based on the army’s claims, the Israeli forces left the city without achieving its goals.

Hamas, for its part, threatened to attack Israeli army forces if they reentered Gaza again.

“You may be able to enter the streets of Gaza, but you will be burned in its alleys every time with the determination of our tough fighters,” the group’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a message in Arabic and English languages.

The message was accompanied by scenes of Hamas fighters clashing with Israeli forces moving into Gaza.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early last October by the Palestinian group, Hamas, killed less than 1,200 people.

Nearly 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and almost 75,900 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi