On Sunday, the Israeli military (IDF) declared that most of the soldiers had left the area during the night.
– Today, Sunday 7 April, the IDF’s ninety-eighth commando division has completed its mission in Khan Younis, the statement said.
– The division left the Gaza Strip to gather forces and prepare for future operations.
Khan Younis is completely changed after the battles that have taken place there. This view met NRK’s team after Israel’s withdrawal on Sunday.
Photo: Jebril Abu Kmeil / NRK
Thus they claim to have only one brigade still in the area. These usually consist of 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers.
It is not known how many soldiers have left.
The forces that are at are to be in place to prevent people who are staying in the south from traveling north, according to the Israeli military radio quoted by NTB.
Think military operation in Rafah has been cancelled
Peace researcher and historian Heidi Henriksen Waage tells NRK that she is surprised that Israel is withdrawing from southern Gaza now.
– Now we have been hearing for months that Israel is not finished with the war until it has invaded the Gaza Strip from the south, i.e. Rafah.
Heidi Henriksen Waage is professor of history at the University of Oslo and senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (Prio).
Photo: Martin Tegnander / Martin Tegnander / PRIO
– And then suddenly Israel does this, and pulls back so much that they are almost left with very few, if any, forces in the south. But the messages are a bit unclear.
Waage believes that it will probably be beneficial for Israel in the ceasefire negotiations that they have done just this.
But she does not want to speculate on how long the situation will last.
– If we are to interpret what Israel has actually done, then they have probably finished their so-called operation inside Khan Younis.
– Many of the people who lived there, they were forcibly evacuated to Rafah together with many others. Then all those who have a seat at Rafah have only been waiting for Israel to start its operation towards Rafah. But it now also seems to be cancelled.
The Israeli military has left a city in ruins.
The IDF says that four of its soldiers were killed in the area on Saturday. Hamas claims they carried out an ambush on forces in this city.
Now the residents are free to return. The only remaining force is to check that they do not travel further north, Israel claims according to NTB.
Photo: Jebril Abu Kmeil / NRK
Khan Younis had 400,000 inhabitants before the war. There are roughly as many people as live in Bergen and Stavanger combined.
After the war started in October last year, the city had gained more than one million inhabitants in a very short time. Now most of the people who fled here have traveled on to Rafah.
– Not necessarily having a bad time
Special adviser in the Norwegian Armed Forces, Hanne Eggen Røislien, believes that the invasion of Rafah has been postponed, but not cancelled.
– This is not something that they necessarily have a bad time with. It has not been cancelled, but consideration is given to other security needs and their capacity.
The last point concerns the fact that the war has been going on for a long time, and that they do not have the surplus and capacity to keep up the pressure in Lebanon and Gaza at the same time, says Røislien.
Røislien thinks it is likely that the attack on Rafah will be postponed by at least a month.
Photo: Ruth Synnøve Barsten / NRK
She also refers to the diplomatic situation.
– If they had gone in for a Rafah invasion now, there would have been, on the one hand, a complete puncture of each and a peace negotiation that Israel is also keen on.
– The second is that it can potentially contribute to a sharp escalation in the region, and cause this conflict to spread.
Israel says on Sunday that it has attacked several parts of Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon. This picture was taken after an Israeli attack on Saturday.
Photo: KAWNAT HAJU / AFP
But in Israel’s overall strategy for Gaza, it has always said “in the end it’s Rafah”, says Røislien.
– They have a goal of crushing Hamas and bringing home the kidnapped.
– If nothing like this happens, then this quiet period will only be a small intermezzo before the warfare resumes.
Netanyahu: No ceasefire until the hostages are free
Prime Minister Netanyahu says on Sunday that there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until Hamas has released all the Israeli hostages.
– We are one step away from victory, but the price we have paid is painful and heartbreaking, he says in a speech to the Israeli National Assembly on Sunday.
The reason is that it has been six years since Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, which began with monthly warfare inside the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in the Knesset at the half-year marking after the Hamas attack on 7 October.
Photo: Abir Sultan / AP
Mediators from several countries are together in Cairo to negotiate a new interim ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Top leaders from the US, Egypt and Qatar were expected to be present, along with delegations from the warring parties.
But Netanyahu is clear about the conditions for Israel.
– There will be no ceasefire without a handover of the hostages. It’s just not going to happen, he said.
People killed since October 7, 2023
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Sources: Palestinian Health Authorities / United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) / Israeli authorities
Reservation:
Figures from the Palestinian health authorities do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and may periodically be delayed. The figure for the number of people killed in Palestine is a figure for Gaza. Figures from Israeli authorities show that 1,200 civilians and soldiers were killed in connection with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. According to figures published on April 3 by Israeli authorities, 260 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 27, 2023. None of the figures are confirmed by independent sources.
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New large demonstration on Saturday
Netanyahu is also under pressure from his own people to bring home the Israeli hostages that Hamas still has in Gaza.
Many tens of thousands of people gathered on Saturday to demonstrate in Israel, melder The Guardian.
They are critical of the Netanyahu government, and think they have done too little to make this happen.
A woman and a child look together at the commemorative posters at Gisselplassen in Tel Aviv, Israel. People still gather here every weekend to demand that the remaining hostages be brought home.
Photo: Hannah McKay / Reuters
At the so-called hostage site in Tel Aviv, among others, the family of one Elad Katzir was present.
Katzir (47) was found dead in Khan Younis by Israeli soldiers and taken home to Israel, according to the IDF. The family is now demanding that Israel enter into an agreement to bring about a hostage exchange.
It was the militant group Islamic Jihad that took him from Kibbutz Nir Oz, according to the report reports The New York Times. Hamas still has several Israeli hostages inside Gaza.
Published 07/04/2024, at 16.10 Updated 07.04.2024, at 16.35
2024-04-07 14:10:02
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