Washington sees it as a sign that West Jerusalem is shifting from large-scale bombing to lower-intensity tactics, the outlet reported.
Israel’s withdrawal of troops from Gaza indicates that it is “listening” to Washington, which has long urged West Jerusalem to shift to low-intensity military operations, Politico reported Wednesday.
It comes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced last weekend that it would withdraw five brigades from combat in Gaza, comprising thousands of soldiers.
The IDF’s decision to reduce its troop presence in the Palestinian enclave is seen as “a signal that Israel is beginning to finally shift away from large-scale bombing and more toward targeted, surgical strikes on senior Hamas leaders,” as Washington has repeatedly urged, amid a rising civilian death toll among Gazans, Politico reported, citing unnamed US officials.
“What we’re seeing is the beginning of a transition,” one official said, while another added that Washington was “pleased to see the shift” but wished it had happened much sooner, according to the outlet.
The killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri by a drone attack in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday could be “another sign Israel is ready to shift to more surgical operations,” Politico’s source said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the killing of Arouri “a new Israeli crime aimed at inevitably dragging Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation.”
In response, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mark Regev, said that “whoever did this strike was very surgical and went for a Hamas target because Israel is at war,” without confirming or denying the IDF’s involvement.
In mid-December, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recalled that Washington has repeatedly urged Israel to shift its high-tempo military operation in Gaza to a “lower-intensity, surgical, focused, targeted campaign.” He added that once this phase is activated, there will be no sanctuary for Hamas leaders, as Israel has the right to go after those who planned and executed the October 7 attacks.
The Palestinian military group attacked Israel from Gaza on that date in 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages, according to Israeli estimates. In response, West Jerusalem declared war and launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza to root out Hamas, resulting in more than 22,000 casualties among the enclave’s residents, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Another anti Israel piece of crap masquerading as ‘news’.
Whenever I see the words ‘West Jerusalem’ used in a report I know that the writer is pro Palestinian, pro terrorism and against the state of Israel’s right to exist.
Israel is not withdrawing from Gaza at all. Israel had to throw massive numbers of ground force reservists into the offensive and while this has been a success so far, this has caused huge disruption (diversion of manpower etc) to the country’s domestic function. Thus, as soon as it is safe to do so, Israel lets some of these reservists get back to their civilian lives – at least in the short term.
These reservists will most probably be needed back at some stage to deal with Hezollah, so any respite they can get in the meantime will be very welcome.
See Scott Ritter’s assessment on the current condition of the IDF…!
2,900 IDF permanently disabled now, and IDF casualties at 60 per day.
The reason that they are withdrawing the flabby Starbucks guzzlers and bagel biters is that they are LOSING the war to Hamas, which will NEVER go away!
See also Hal Turner reporting that IDF soldiers (IF one can call them that…I call them murderers and war criminals!) were laughing about shooting children in Gaza!
Disgusting bunch of Zionist beasts, just as they were in early Khazaria and in 1917 Russia with their ‘Red Terror’. That is why J***** Victoria Nuland started the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution with two J***** Ukrainian Presidents, and mocked the EU in the process!
God Bless Russian President Putin!!!
Al-Jazeera is now reporting that the IDF is desecrating the bodies of Hamas Fighters by running them over with tanks and vehicles.
Similar to the IDF shooting Palestinian children as a sport, and bulldozing the Palestinian Moslem cemeteries.
Why is the U.S. allowing this when it didn’t in World War Two?
BECAUSE 80% OF BIDEN’S CABINET ARE J*****!!!
& BTW- Lloyd Austin’s recent hospitalisation was kept quiet because he was in the Ukraine and was wounded by a Russian rocket / missile attack!
Note to Donald Trump- You keep the Mossad operatives, the Kushners OUT of the White House!
We didn’t vote for the Kushners, nor the nepotism that led to them running the White House in behalf of Israel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s all ‘Smoke, Mirrors and Sideshows’ w/ J3wi$h Zionist Antony Blinken orchestrating the same, going to & fro!
‘And God said to Satan, “Where are you going?” To which Satan answered “I am going to & fro!” (Job 1.7 & 2.2)
This is a multi-front war; the world just doesn’t realise it yet, with military-age men from China and South America flooding into the U.S. to take up arms against the same in an upcoming Civil War ll, Europe collapsing, and Russia taking the Baltic States back after totally defeating the Zionist States of the Ukraine.
See Putin’s speech on Hal Turner’s website…
Once the Palestinians are pushed out of Gaza and the West Bank, and into the Sinai, the J3w$ will use limited HE / low-yield low-radioactive nukes to blast the ground in order to dig the Ben Gurion Canal, saving dig time in the process.
Once the Ben Gurion Canal is operational, the J3w$ will then nuke the Sinai AND the Suez Canal, killing off the remaining Palestinian survivors and making the Suez Locks unusable due to high radiation.
The J3w$ of Israel will then charge enormous amounts to lock-thru the Ben Gurion Canal, and this will also deprive Egypt of the profitability of the Suez Canal with it being shut down indefinitely due to radiation.
Picture the Suez Canal as another Chernobyl…uninhabitable for at least 600+ years!
The J3w$ are the ultimate hypocrites and a danger to the Earth!!!!
Putin knows that they are the REAL enemy to humanity based on what happened in 1917, and that they have been orchestrating proxy wars where the children of OTHER nations die for Israel!
That is coming to an end!