The Israeli military chief of staff said on Sunday that even though some troops are being withdrawn from the Gaza Strip, the six-month-old war in the Palestinian territory is far from over.
“The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping,” said Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, who serves as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“Senior Hamas officials are still in hiding. We will get to them sooner or later,” he said. “We will not leave Hamas brigades active in any part of the Strip.”
He said he felt personally responsible for returning all hostages held in Gaza “as quickly as possible.”
He admitted that, despite military progress in Gaza over the past half-year, not all the goals had been achieved, including “returning all the hostages home” and “dismantling Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip.”
The IDF said earlier Sunday that it had withdrawn its forces from the city of Khan Younis, the biggest in the southern Gaza Strip, in what could mark a turning point in the war that started on October 7.
But Israel would still have a “significant force” presence in Gaza, it said.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ruled the Gaza Strip, launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7. The massacre left some 1,200 people dead and more than 200 taken hostage.
Israel initially retaliated with an aerial onslaught before also launching a major ground offensive that swept from north to south.
Despite strong international opposition, Israel has been maintaining for weeks that it is planning a large-scale incursion into Rafah, the last major population centre in Gaza that has yet see ground forces.
More than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah from fighting elsewhere in the sealed-off coastal area.
Much of Gaza lies in ruins as warnings grow of famine. The Hamas-run Health Ministry puts the death toll at over 33,000.
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