GAZA: Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip Sunday, media reports said, in a partial withdrawal six months into the devastating war sparked by the October 7 attacks.
But the military said a "significant force" will keep operating elsewhere in the besieged Palestinian territory, able "to conduct precise intelligence based operations".
Air strikes kept pounding Khan Yunis and Rafah during the night, eyewitnesses said.
The army said it withdrew its forces from southern Gaza after months of fighting there left in ruins the city of Khan Yunis.
The news of the partial withdrawal came on the day talks towards a truce and captives release deal were expected to resume in Cairo, including US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
CIA chief Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani will join Egyptian officials for indirect talks from Sunday between the Israeli and Hamas delegations, Egypt's Al-Qahera News said.
Netanyahu had long threatened a ground offensive on far-southern Gaza's Rafah city, sparking global concern, including from Israel's top ally the United States.
Up to 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded into the area on the Egyptian border, many living in tents. Dozens left Rafah by foot, in cars and on donkey carts and returned to Khan Yunis on Sunday after the Israeli pullout.
Several aid trucks on Sunday entered southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the drivers honking their horns as crowds ran after them.
Israel has faced a storm of international outrage over the killing of seven aid workers of the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen in a Gaza air strike on April 1.
The Gaza war broke out on October 7 with an unprecedented attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Vast areas of Gaza have been turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, its people trapped in a dire humanitarian crisis amid an Israeli siege.
Gaza has received only sporadic aid via a road crossing with Egypt, airdrops and two sea shipments -- and aid agencies warn the deliveries fall far short of the dire needs.
Under US pressure, Israel has pledged to allow for the first time aid deliveries through its Erez border crossing with northern Gaza.
Most of Gaza's hospitals are out of action and the largest, Al-Shifa, is "now an empty shell with human graves", said World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. — AFP
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