In southern Gaza, battles are absent
As Israel draws down, new hopes for a cease-fire
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military’s departure from the southern Gaza Strip over the weekend has left the territory without a major battlefield for the first time since a brief truce with Hamas in November, raising hopes that the two sides might reach another cease-fire.
Analysts say the redeployment means the war is entering a new phase, one in which Israeli forces, mainly stationed along Gaza’s borders, will mostly mount brief raids into the territory before retreating to Israel, rather than lengthy ground maneuvers involving large numbers of troops.
By withdrawing without either capturing Hamas’s last major stronghold, Rafah, or empowering an alternative Palestinian leadership, Israel has left behind a power vacuum in which Hamas could regroup and reemerge as a military force across much of the territory.
That likelihood has prompted expectations that Israel will continue to mount small-scale operations across Gaza to prevent Hamas’s resurgence, extending the war for months to come. That strategy could occupy a middle ground between reaching a lasting truce with Hamas and advancing in force into Rafah.
The Israeli military said Sunday that its 98th Division had left Khan Younis in southern Gaza “to recuperate and prepare for future operations.” That leaves no Israeli troops actively maneuvering in southern Gaza, according to two officials briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The drawdown of troops continues a process that began in January and leaves the equivalent of a single brigade in all of Gaza, or fewer than 5,000 troops — down from roughly 50,000 at the height of the war in December.
The remaining troops inside Gaza are mostly guarding a buffer zone that Israel has created by destroying Palestinian buildings along the border, or positioned along a narrow land corridor that splits northern Gaza, including Gaza City, from the rest of the territory.
Two journalists for The New York Times traveled down the corridor last week, observing how it functions as a supply road for troops; a barrier to displaced Palestinians attempting to move back to northern Gaza; and a potential launchpad for future Israeli military operations in northern and central Gaza.
The Israeli leadership painted the withdrawal as a sign of Israel’s progress on the battlefield, and something it had long predicted. Israeli officials have said that, having routed Hamas, their army would eventually move most of its troops back to the strip’s perimeter and conduct brief attacks on specific targets, instead of carrying out large-scale ground maneuvers across wide areas.
To others, the drawdown constitutes an Israeli failure. Despite mounting a campaign that local authorities say has killed more than 33,000 and left Gaza in ruins and on the brink of famine, Israel is leaving most of the strip without having achieved the goals it set for itself after Hamas raided Israel on Oct. 7, setting off the war.
Hamas’s most senior leaders are still alive; several thousand Hamas fighters are still at large; and roughly half of the hostages taken on Oct. 7 are still in Gaza. Israel’s withdrawal has left most of Gaza without a functional administration, and the void could yet be filled once more by Hamas.
The withdrawal from southern Gaza appeared to have given momentum to negotiations to achieve a cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held inside Israel. Negotiations have stalled for months, in large part because Israel does not want to agree to a truce that allows Hamas to remain in charge of any part of Gaza, while Hamas is wary of a deal that does not ensure its long-term survival.
The withdrawal of Israeli ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip allowed some Palestinians to return to the city of Khan Younis and check on their homes. Some found only destruction.
“When I saw the scene I couldn’t handle it,” said Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, who went back Sunday to find his family’s three-story villa reduced to a pile of rubble, surrounded by the few trees that were left standing in what was once a lush garden.