The Israeli military has withdrawn its ground troops from the south of the Gaza Strip. Only one brigade remains there, said an army spokesman. The news comes as a surprise, the Israeli government recently spoke of a major operation in Rafah, on the border with Egypt – so now the withdrawal. Freelance journalist Inga Rogg, who reports from Jerusalem, explains the background to this announcement.
How does the Israeli military justify this surprising step?
Inga Rogg: The army says it has achieved its goals specifically around the city of Khan Yunis. Hamas was destroyed there, thousands of Hamas fighters were killed – and therefore the combat units are no longer needed there. That’s the military’s official reasoning.
So the military says it has achieved its goals. Is that actually the case?
Measured against the goals set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: No. He named three goals: There must be a total victory, i.e. Hamas must be completely destroyed. The Gaza Strip must never again become a threat to Israel.
A representative of the Israeli army said: We have not achieved the goal of freeing the hostages.
And the third goal: the hostages had to be freed. And the army has now contradicted that. An army representative said: We have not achieved this goal.
There has also been a lot of pressure from abroad in the last few weeks. Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Could this also be a reason for the troop withdrawal?
That could certainly be the case. You said it, the pressure from abroad was strong. It became noticeably stronger, especially on the part of the Americans. Last week, the Americans indirectly threatened for the first time to reconsider their policy if Israel stopped allowing humanitarian aid into the country. So the catastrophic humanitarian situation is a point of contention.
Israel’s army and government say US pressure played no role in the decision.
But military deployment is also another. There was also criticism of it – insofar as the Pentagon said that the way Israel was proceeding by massively bombing civilian targets, Hamas could not be fought. This requires targeted operations, i.e. operations by special units. In this respect, that may well have played a role. The army and the government say that pressure from the USA played no role in the decision.
What does today’s troop withdrawal mean for the further course of the war?
We’ll definitely have to wait and see. The army has also stated that it is ready for further operations if necessary. So this could exist. On the other hand, when the soldiers have of course withdrawn and at the same time we see this pressure from abroad, especially from the USA, then the question is whether the war can be continued as it has been up to now was conducted. And an indication of this may also be a statement from Netanyahu, who said: We are only one step away from victory.
The interview was conducted by Christina Scheidegger.