US official: IDF pullout of some Gaza troops seems to herald ‘shift to lower intensity’

IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released January 1, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip in an undated photo released January 1, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel’s decision to withdraw some troops from Gaza appears to signal the start of a shift to lower-intensity operations in the north of the Palestinian enclave, although there is still fighting going on there, a US official says.

“This appears to be the start of the gradual shift to lower-intensity operations in the north that we have been encouraging,” the official says, noting the change reflects the success of the Israeli military in dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities there.

Fighting continues in the north, however, and the revised Israeli tactics do not “reflect any changes in the south” of Gaza, the official tells Reuters.

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