Fighting To End Wars

"[The return of the reservists was aimed at ensuring] planning and preparation for the continuation of 2024…"

"Some of the reservists will return to their families and employment this week." 

"[The decision to move soldiers out of Gaza will] significantly ease the burden on the economy and allow them to gather strength for the upcoming activities in the next year, [as fighting is expected to continue into 2024]."

"Understanding that we will be required for additional tasks and warfare throughout this year."

"The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting."

"[The IDF’s stated goal is to] dismantle the Hamas terrorist organization’s military and administrative capabilities, [no easy feat in a densely-packed urban landscape riddled with an extensive underground tunnel system that protects militants and helps hide hostages]."

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari

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Israeli soldiers organize tank shells after returning from the Gaza Strip on January 1, at Israel's southern border. Amir Levy/Getty Images

The theatre of war and its operational strategies are always in flux, and the Israel Defense Forces has begun to shift thousands of Israeli soldiers out of the Gaza Strip in a drawdown of troops, the first since the conflict was initiated. The decision can be interpreted as fighting scaled back in some Gaza areas, specifically in the northern half where the military has announced it is preparing to assume full operational control. Five brigades; several thousand troops are being removed from Gaza in coming weeks for training and rest.

According to Shlomo Brom, retired brigadier-general in charge of strategic planning at one time, the troop changes may have resulted from American pressure. "The war is not stopping. It is the beginning of a different mode of operation", he clarified. Indicating a shift in how Israel had been conducting the war in some areas of the Gaza Strip.

In the southern city of Khan Younis and central areas of the territory, fierce fighting continues. It is Israel's intention to charge forward until its war aims have been realized, and that includes the most pressing issue, the complete dismantling of the terrorist group Hamas which has been in administrative charge of Gaza for the past 16 years.

An Israeli soldier works atop a tank outside the border with Gaza. Plans to send some reservists home mark the start of a new stage in the war. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

 

Adil Mismah, the Hamas commander of the elite Nukhba forces was killed in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, by an air force fighter jet directed by ground forces. He was responsible for commanding the attack on Kibbutz Kissufim on October 7, where eight residents and six Thai workers were murdered and four Kibbutz residents were abducted. He also directed other Hamas terrorists to other communities near the Gaza border, including Kibbutz Be'eri and Kibbutz Nirim, where 135 Israelis were murdered.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari did not specify whether the decision meant that Israel was preparing to launch a new war phase, as he briefed news media while announcing the troop withdrawal. "The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting and we are preparing accordingly", he said of Israel's vow to crush the Hamas military and governing capabilities. Over 8,000 Hamas operatives have died, according to Israeli statistics. Placing the blame for high civilian deaths on Hamas which embeds itself within residential areas, inclusive of schools and hospitals.

As midnight struck on New Year's Eve, Hamas fired a large barrage of rockets toward Israel, including at Tel Aviv. As well, Israel has been forced to engage in almost-daily battles with Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, to Israel's north, as well as striking Iranian-linked targets in neighbouring Syria; for Israel a three-pronged conflict.

Fighting in the north of the strip has tapered, though fighting in the south continues to rage as Israel seeks to destroy Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years | Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

A more recent strike in Beirut killed Hamas’ second-in-command political leader today, in a significant escalation of Israel’s war against the terrorist group, heightening risk of a wider Middle East conflict.

Saleh Arouri was the most senior Hamas figure killed since the war began He was a founder of the Hamas military wing. The strike hit an apartment in a Shiite district of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, leading Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to vow to strike back against any targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon by Israel.