Stench of death: this was where they lived
GAZA STRIP: Israel has withdrawn some of its troops from southern Gaza, but is preparing for military operations in the territory’s southernmost point of Rafah six months into a “long war”.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said troops left the city of Khan Yunis, after months of fighting, “to prepare for future missions, including … in Rafah”.
World leaders have expressed alarm at the prospect of an invasion of the city, near the Egyptian border, where most of Gaza’s population has taken shelter.
“The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping,” said Israel’s military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
“This is a long war, with varying intensity.”
Khan Yunis is the hometown of Hamas’s Gaza chief
Yahya Sinwar, who Israel accuses of being the mastermind of the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s “98th commando division” left the city, and Gaza, “in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations,” the army said.
After troops left areas in and around the largely destroyed city of Khan Yunis, a stream of displaced Palestinians walked there, hoping to return to their homes from temporary shelters in Rafah, a little further south. Many walked through rubble and the remains of their homes.
Israeli security expert Omer Dostri predicted that, as more displaced Palestinians leave densely crowded Rafah, “within two months there will be a move in Rafah to destroy the remaining Hamas brigades”.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said Israel was “one step away from victory”.
But Muhammad Yunis, 51, a Palestinian in Gaza, sees nothing but loss. “Isn’t the bombing, death and destruction enough?” he asked. “There are bodies still under the rubble. We can smell the stench.”
On a day when talks toward a truce deal were set to resume in Cairo, Mr Netanyahu also stressed that “there will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages”.
He is facing intense pressure at home from families and supporters of captives seized by the militants as well as from a resurgent anti-government protest movement.
“Israel is ready for a deal. Israel is not ready to surrender,” Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet in a speech to mark six months since Hamas’s attack that resulted in the deaths of 1170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamasrun territory.
Meanwhile, Germany faces charges from Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice that it is “facilitating the commission of genocide” against Palestinians with its military and political support for Israel.
Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the ICJ to stop Berlin providing Israel with weapons and other assistance.
Germany has vehemently rejected the allegations.