Israel has said that it will withdraw some of its forces from Gaza as it focuses on targeted operations amid warnings from officials of a prolonged war.
“The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is currently adjusting deployment plans for forces in Gaza and the reserve system,” the IDF said. “Some reservists, including the 551st and 14th brigades, will return to their families and employment this week.”
The move is expected “to significantly alleviate economic burdens and enable them [personnel] to gather strength for upcoming activities in the next year, as the fighting will persist and their services will still be needed”, the spokesman said. Three brigades will also return to scheduled training.
An Israeli official told Reuters that the withdrawal was focused on reservists and was designed to “re-energise the Israeli economy”.
Israel drafted 300,000 reservists for the war - an estimated 10 to 15 per cent of its workforce. Some were quickly discharged, but government sources have said between 200,000 and 250,000 were still serving and absent from their jobs or universities.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a recent note that the call-up of reservists into service was among the main reasons behind “severe” labour shortages in the Israeli economy. It said economic growth would slow considerably in 2024 as a result of the war.
Some of the troops pulled out of Gaza in the south would be prepared for rotation to the northern border with Lebanon, the official told Reuters.
In recent days there has been an increase in cross-border fire between the IDF and Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants, who have shot rockets and drones at Israel in solidarity with Palestinians.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is vowing to destroy Hamas and return 129 hostages who remain in captivity after the terror group captured them during its Oct 7 rampage, in which it also killed at least 1,140 people.
Three stages of Israeli offensive
Since launching the Gaza offensive, Israeli officials have said they planned to wage it in three main stages. The first was intense shelling to clear access routes for ground forces and encourage civilians to evacuate. The second was the ground invasion that began on Oct 27. The Israeli military is now ready to move to the third stage, which will take at least six months, the official said.
This phase will “involve intense mopping-up missions against the terrorists. No one is talking about doves of peace being flown from Shajaia”, the official told Reuters, referring to a Gaza district ravaged by fighting.
Israel is coming under increasing international pressure over the growing death toll in Gaza and from the families of Israeli hostages who are demanding the immediate return of their loved ones.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry puts the death toll at nearly 22,000 people and says that around 70 per cent of those killed are women and children.
On Saturday, Mr Netanyahu claimed that the IDF had killed 8,000 Palestinian fighters. Israeli pre-war estimates put Hamas’s military force at around 30,000, suggesting that the terror group retains significant fighting capacity.
The IDF said on Monday that of 170 Israeli soldiers killed since the beginning of ground operations in Gaza, 29 had been killed by accident.
They included 18 deaths as a result of friendly fire, two from “shooting irregularities” and nine as a result of accidents involving “ammunition, weapons and trampling”.
Three people were also killed by accident in central and northern military units, an IDF statement added.