An Israeli official said that Israel is reducing some of its forces in Gaza and focusing on more specific operations against Hamas.
Sending some reservists back to their normal lives also seeks to boost the economy as the new year begins with a long-lasting war.
The official said that the war will go on in the Palestinian territory until the Islamist group is overthrown, and that some of the withdrawn troops will get ready for a potential second front in Lebanon.
Israel started the Gaza offensive after Hamas attacked across the border on Oct. 7, and said they had three main phases for the war. The first was heavy bombardment to make way for ground forces and urge civilians to leave. The second was the invasion that started on Oct. 27.
Now that tanks and soldiers have taken over most of the Gaza Strip, and largely gained control despite Palestinian fighters still attacking from hidden tunnels and shelters, the military is moving to the third phase of the war, the official said, who could not give their name because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“This will last at least six months, and involve intense clean-up operations against the terrorists. No one is expecting peace doves to fly from Shajaia,” the official told Reuters, referring to a Gaza area destroyed by fighting.
Besides the 1,200 people killed on Oct. 7, Hamas captured some 240 people. Israel also wants to get back the 129 still held in Gaza. Truce efforts mediated by Qatar and Egypt have raised the possibility of some of them being released.
Israel called up 300,000 reservists for the war – an estimated 10% to 15% of its workforce. Some were quickly let go, but government sources have said between 200,000 and 250,000 were still serving and away from work or school.
The official said the withdrawal was mainly for reservists and meant to “re-energise the Israeli economy”.
But the official said some of the troops leaving Gaza in the south would be prepared for moving to the northern border with Lebanon, where Hezbollah militants have been shooting at Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Israel has warned that, if Hezbollah does not stop, a full-scale Lebanon war is near. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are supported by Iran, whose militant allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have also been launching longer-range attacks against Israel.
“The situation on the Lebanese front cannot go on. This next six-month period is a crucial time,” the official said, adding that Israel would send a similar message to a U.S. envoy doing shuttle missions to Beirut.
In Gaza, the Israel-Hamas war has caused unprecedented damage, with the health ministry reporting almost 22,000 deaths, many of them civilian. Israel says it has killed more than 8,000 Palestinian fighters – suggesting that, by its own numbers, Hamas still has core members. Before the war, Israeli assessment were that the group had around 30,000 fighters.
The Israeli military said on Saturday it was letting some reservists go home as part of what top commander Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi has called a “reconfiguration” of forces.
“From the first moments of this war, we said it would be long”, Halevi told troops on Tuesday. “Will we finally be able to say there are no more enemies around the State of Israel? I think that is too optimistic. But we will achieve a different security situation – safe and, as much as possible, stable too.”
Israel has reported 174 soldiers – many of them reservists – as killed in Gaza fighting and nine on the Lebanese border.
