Delivery time2024-01-05 10:05
Secretary of Defense announces new phase of ground warfare ahead of US Secretary of State visit
Targeted operation in northern Gaza… South focuses on eliminating Hamas leadership
Gaza residents standing in damaged houses
(Rafa Reuters = Yonhap News) Residents stand in a house damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on the 1st (local time). The Israeli military is preparing to transform the war in the Gaza Strip to eliminate the Palestinian armed faction Hamas from a high-intensity all-out war to a low-intensity, long-term war. 2024.01.02 besthope@yna.co.kr
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Do-yeon = Israel, under pressure from the international community for a ceasefire, announced a shift in tactics to detailed searches and special operations, formalizing the de-escalation of the war in Gaza.
The scale of the ground war is expected to gradually decrease as targeted operations are carried out in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and the southern part focuses on rescuing hostages and eliminating Hamas leadership.
According to Reuters on the 4th (local time), Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant outlined the new phase of the ground war in the Gaza Strip through a statement that day.
In the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where Israel controls most of the land, the operation is tailored to operational needs, and in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where there are 2.3 million refugees, the focus is on tracking Hamas leadership while working to release the remaining hostages held by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas. is the key.
“In the northern Gaza Strip, we will transition to a new way of fighting in line with the military achievements of the ground war,” Gallant said.
He explained that operations in the north included surprise attacks, tunnel destruction, airstrikes and artillery fire, and special forces operations.
He said, “We will attempt to eliminate Hamas leadership and rescue hostages in the southern Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are concentrated,” and added, “We will continue this work until it is deemed necessary.”
Secretary Gallant’s announcement of this new phase of the ground war comes amidst pressure from the international community to reduce the war, continued concerns about the cost of war within Israel, and the possibility of war expanding to other regions of the Middle East is growing.
After the Gaza War broke out due to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7 last year, the Israeli army and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging attacks on the border between Israel and Lebanon, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have attacked merchant ships passing through the Red Sea one after another, leading the international community to We have been wary of the possibility of an escalation of war.
To make matters worse, on the 2nd, Deputy Political Director Saleh al-Arouri, the third-in-command of the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, was killed in an airstrike in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and the following day, the fourth anniversary of the death of ‘national hero’ Qasem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, was observed in Iran. As a terrorist attack occurred at a memorial service, there are concerns that this incident could become a trigger for an escalation of war.
US Secretary of State Tony Blinken
[워싱턴DC EPA=연합뉴스 자료사진]
As the crisis of war escalated, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken embarked on his fourth trip to the Middle East to prevent it.
Starting on the 4th, Secretary Blinken will visit Turkye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Egypt.
He will discuss what countries in the region can do to prevent tensions from escalating and ways to deter Houthi attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea.
Israel’s plan to reduce the war in Gaza is expected to become more concrete with Secretary Blinken’s visit.
Secretary Blinken plans to discuss with the Israeli government plans to transition Israel’s military operations to the next stage and ways to allow Palestinians to return to their homes and neighborhoods as Israel transitions to a low-intensity offensive.
The United States has consistently called on Israel to switch to low-intensity military operations such as precision bombing and targeted operations.
On October 7 last year, Hamas infiltrated armed fighters into southern Israel, killed over 1,200 people, took over 240 hostage and took them to the Gaza Strip.
Israel immediately launched a counterattack, and since November, it has been sending ground troops into the Gaza Strip to track and eradicate Hamas.
In this process, more than 22,000 people have died and 50,000 have been injured in the Gaza Strip so far.
dylee@yna.co.kr
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2024/01/05 10:05 Sent
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2024-01-05 01:05:14
