EPTTEL AVIV—Israel began preparations for prolonged fighting in the Gaza Strip, reshuffling forces as it weighs how to sustain lower-intensity fighting over the long term and Israel’s top general said that it would take at least several more months to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities in the enclave.
On Monday, Israel said it would adjust its ground-force composition in Gaza, with plans to rotate five brigades—estimated to be thousands of troops—out of the Gaza Strip this week, some of which might be replaced. The military has also recalibrated the types of troops required, now relying more heavily on commando and combat-engineering forces, as Israel increasingly tries to penetrate subterranean tunnel infrastructure and hunt down senior Hamas leadership.
“These adaptations are designed to ensure planning and preparation for 2024,” Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, said Sunday night. “The war’s goals require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly.”
The prospect of prolonged fighting in Gaza comes amid friction between Israel and the U.S., its main ally, which has been pushing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin winding down a war that has devastated the enclave and killed thousands.
On Sunday, the United Nations said 40% of the Gaza population is at risk of famine and all children under five—or a total of about 335,000—are at high risk of severe malnutrition. The war has displaced 85% of the population and pushed almost all Gazans into poverty, according to the U.N., amid a daily struggle to find food and avoid Israeli airstrikes.
While some Western officials and analysts have questioned whether Israel can succeed in its goal of eradicating Hamas, the new military plans reflect the country’s determination to continue to pursue that goal.
The war in Gaza has sparked tensions elsewhere in the Middle East and has raised the risk of a broader confrontation between Iran, which has backed Hamas in its goal of destroying Israel, and the U.S., which has moved aircraft carriers and other military support to the area to deter Iran and its allies from attacking Israel.
Over the weekend, U.S. Navy helicopters sank three boats piloted by Houthi fighters, a Yemeni group backed by Iran, after those boats threatened a commercial vessel in the Red Sea. There have been more than 20 Houthi attacks on commercial vessels since November.
The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group will be leaving the region in the coming days, defense officials said. A second carrier, the Dwight D. Eisenhower, will continue operating in the Red Sea. Since the Oct. 7 start of the war, the U.S. also has deployed additional destroyers and amphibious assault ships throughout the region.
Tasnim, an Iranian semiofficial news agency close to the country’s security establishment, said Monday that an Iranian destroyer has been moved to the Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key crossing between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
The clash between the Houthis and the U.S. Navy—the first involving close combat between U.S. forces and the militants—poses the question of whether the Biden administration should retaliate against the militants to deter further such aggression.
Israel launched what has become one of its most costly recent conflicts after Hamas—a group designated by the U.S. as a terror organization—attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping more than 240.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, more than 22,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the war broke out. The figures don’t distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
Shahd Swairki, 35, who fled her home in Gaza City in the north to Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt, said that food is available in the south, but at very high prices. She is crowded with her extended family in a rented apartment. Many other displaced families are in tents. The lack of cooking gas has forced people to burn wood, or even garbage, to cook.
“People here live amid garbage, all of us are sick, the smoke from the fires we burn makes us feel more sick,” said Swairki. “The situation is just getting worse.”
Even as Israel announced the changes to its deployment, analysts say any shift to lower-intensity fighting is possible only as Israel establishes operational control over an area, meaning its forces can maneuver freely in the zone.
Nearly three months into Israel’s war against Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip, Israel says it has broken the main command-and-control lines in the enclave’s north and weakened them in the south, but small groups of Hamas fighters continue to ambush Israeli forces and fire rockets toward Israel from across the Strip.
On Monday morning, Hamas showed it has retained long-range rocket capabilities by launching an intense barrage at Tel Aviv at the stroke of midnight.
Swapping out forces who have been serving for long periods in Gaza is important to refresh weary troops. But it also indicates that the Israeli military believes it has sufficient forces to fight in Khan Younis—a town in the south that Israel believes harbors Hamas commanders—and Rafah, should ground forces expand further south, said Eyal Pinko, a former security services officer.
Moreover, demobilizing a portion of the more than 300,000 reservists called up for duty since Oct. 7 will ease pressure on Israel’s workforce and its economy. Since the start of the invasion of Gaza, 172 Israeli soldiers have died and more than 900 have been wounded.
Two of the five brigades set to rotate out of Gaza are reservists, some of whom the military said will be demobilized. The remaining three are training brigades, which can be quickly redeployed into battle at need.
Meanwhile, clashes continue across Gaza. In Gaza City’s Shujaiyeh neighborhood, the Israel military said on Monday that its forces raided a command compound used by Hamas and allied group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In central Gaza, Israel said it killed a mid-ranking officer commanding Hamas’s elite Nukhba fighting force in Deir al-Balah.
In addition to operating in Khan Younis, Israeli forces are also on the ground in Khirbat Ikhza’a, a border town that the military said was one of the launch points for Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday that humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza are “limited in quantities and riddled with logistical hurdles,” saying Israeli restrictions and airstrikes on the border areas are constraining the flow of aid. The U.N. also said a breakdown in law and order and looting by desperate Gazans was also making it hard to secure convoys.
“There is a countdown to avert famine,” said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the agency. “Much more food needs to get in.”
The Israeli military said it works to facilitate aid into Gaza and blamed logistical bottlenecks created by the U.N. for the delays.
The World Health Organization said that crowded and unsanitary conditions are causing hundreds of thousands of cases of infectious diseases and stomach ailments. Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning and those still able to take patients have limited treatment available.
On Monday, Israel said it would adjust its ground-force composition in Gaza, with plans to rotate five brigades—estimated to be thousands of troops—out of the Gaza Strip this week, some of which might be replaced. The military has also recalibrated the types of troops required, now relying more heavily on commando and combat-engineering forces, as Israel increasingly tries to penetrate subterranean tunnel infrastructure and hunt down senior Hamas leadership.
“These adaptations are designed to ensure planning and preparation for 2024,” Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson, said Sunday night. “The war’s goals require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly.”
The prospect of prolonged fighting in Gaza comes amid friction between Israel and the U.S., its main ally, which has been pushing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin winding down a war that has devastated the enclave and killed thousands.
On Sunday, the United Nations said 40% of the Gaza population is at risk of famine and all children under five—or a total of about 335,000—are at high risk of severe malnutrition. The war has displaced 85% of the population and pushed almost all Gazans into poverty, according to the U.N., amid a daily struggle to find food and avoid Israeli airstrikes.
While some Western officials and analysts have questioned whether Israel can succeed in its goal of eradicating Hamas, the new military plans reflect the country’s determination to continue to pursue that goal.
The war in Gaza has sparked tensions elsewhere in the Middle East and has raised the risk of a broader confrontation between Iran, which has backed Hamas in its goal of destroying Israel, and the U.S., which has moved aircraft carriers and other military support to the area to deter Iran and its allies from attacking Israel.
Over the weekend, U.S. Navy helicopters sank three boats piloted by Houthi fighters, a Yemeni group backed by Iran, after those boats threatened a commercial vessel in the Red Sea. There have been more than 20 Houthi attacks on commercial vessels since November.
The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group will be leaving the region in the coming days, defense officials said. A second carrier, the Dwight D. Eisenhower, will continue operating in the Red Sea. Since the Oct. 7 start of the war, the U.S. also has deployed additional destroyers and amphibious assault ships throughout the region.
Tasnim, an Iranian semiofficial news agency close to the country’s security establishment, said Monday that an Iranian destroyer has been moved to the Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key crossing between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
The clash between the Houthis and the U.S. Navy—the first involving close combat between U.S. forces and the militants—poses the question of whether the Biden administration should retaliate against the militants to deter further such aggression.
Israel launched what has become one of its most costly recent conflicts after Hamas—a group designated by the U.S. as a terror organization—attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping more than 240.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, more than 22,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the war broke out. The figures don’t distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
Shahd Swairki, 35, who fled her home in Gaza City in the north to Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt, said that food is available in the south, but at very high prices. She is crowded with her extended family in a rented apartment. Many other displaced families are in tents. The lack of cooking gas has forced people to burn wood, or even garbage, to cook.
“People here live amid garbage, all of us are sick, the smoke from the fires we burn makes us feel more sick,” said Swairki. “The situation is just getting worse.”
Even as Israel announced the changes to its deployment, analysts say any shift to lower-intensity fighting is possible only as Israel establishes operational control over an area, meaning its forces can maneuver freely in the zone.
Nearly three months into Israel’s war against Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip, Israel says it has broken the main command-and-control lines in the enclave’s north and weakened them in the south, but small groups of Hamas fighters continue to ambush Israeli forces and fire rockets toward Israel from across the Strip.
On Monday morning, Hamas showed it has retained long-range rocket capabilities by launching an intense barrage at Tel Aviv at the stroke of midnight.
Swapping out forces who have been serving for long periods in Gaza is important to refresh weary troops. But it also indicates that the Israeli military believes it has sufficient forces to fight in Khan Younis—a town in the south that Israel believes harbors Hamas commanders—and Rafah, should ground forces expand further south, said Eyal Pinko, a former security services officer.
Moreover, demobilizing a portion of the more than 300,000 reservists called up for duty since Oct. 7 will ease pressure on Israel’s workforce and its economy. Since the start of the invasion of Gaza, 172 Israeli soldiers have died and more than 900 have been wounded.
Two of the five brigades set to rotate out of Gaza are reservists, some of whom the military said will be demobilized. The remaining three are training brigades, which can be quickly redeployed into battle at need.
Meanwhile, clashes continue across Gaza. In Gaza City’s Shujaiyeh neighborhood, the Israel military said on Monday that its forces raided a command compound used by Hamas and allied group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In central Gaza, Israel said it killed a mid-ranking officer commanding Hamas’s elite Nukhba fighting force in Deir al-Balah.
In addition to operating in Khan Younis, Israeli forces are also on the ground in Khirbat Ikhza’a, a border town that the military said was one of the launch points for Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday that humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza are “limited in quantities and riddled with logistical hurdles,” saying Israeli restrictions and airstrikes on the border areas are constraining the flow of aid. The U.N. also said a breakdown in law and order and looting by desperate Gazans was also making it hard to secure convoys.
“There is a countdown to avert famine,” said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the agency. “Much more food needs to get in.”
The Israeli military said it works to facilitate aid into Gaza and blamed logistical bottlenecks created by the U.N. for the delays.
The World Health Organization said that crowded and unsanitary conditions are causing hundreds of thousands of cases of infectious diseases and stomach ailments. Most of Gaza’s hospitals are no longer functioning and those still able to take patients have limited treatment available.
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