GAZA: Israel pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts on Monday, residents said, as it announced plans to shift tactics and cut back on troop numbers, but fighting raged elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave along with intense bombardment.
Israel says the war in Gaza, which has reduced much of the territory to rubble, killing thousands and plunging its 2.3 million people into a humanitarian disaster, has many months to go.
But Israel has signalled a coming news phase in its offensive, with an official saying on Monday that the military would draw down forces inside Gaza this month and shift to a months-long phase of more localised “mopping up” operations.
Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say Israel’s offensive there has killed more than 21,978 people.
The scale of suffering in Gaza, where the bombardment has driven almost all inhabitants from their homes, has led Israel’s Western allies, including the US, to urge it to scale down its offensive.
“My wish for 2024 is not to die... Our childhood is gone. There is no bathroom, no food and no water. Only tents. There is nowhere safe,” 11-year-old Layan Harara said in Gaza’s Rafah.
Residents of Sheikh Radwan district in Gaza City, in the northern part of the enclave that Israel’s offensive focused on first, said tanks had withdrawn after what they described as the most intense 10 days of warfare since the conflict began.
Tanks remained in other parts of northern Gaza and health officials said some people trying to return to their homes in a southern district of Gaza City had been killed by Israeli fire on Sunday.
Fighting in central parts of the enclave continued unabated on Monday, residents there said, with tanks pushing into al-Bureij and air strikes targeting al-Nusseirat, al-Maghazi and the southern city of Khan Younis. Strikes on al-Maghazi killed at least 10 people on Monday morning.
Israel’s move to a new stage in the conflict comes after its initial bombardment and a ground invasion that began on October 27. Air and artillery strikes have continued to pound the entire enclave during that time, leaving much of it in ruins.
Washington said Israel should allow a Palestinian government to control Gaza when the conflict is over. Even in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 2023 was the deadliest year on record for Palestinians with 307 killed since the war in Gaza began on October 7, the UN said. — Reuters
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