The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched a new phase of war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Five brigades – consisting of several thousand soldiers – will withdraw from the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks.
Mark Regeva senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister's office said the cuts were crucial to rotating troops for an expected long war.
“We have to be prepared for the long term,” Regev said in one Sky News interview. “We need to withdraw troops now to give them a rest.”
The new phase comes after U.S. officials traveled to Israel last month and pressured officials to curtail fighting after more than a year 20,000 People died in Gaza, according to local health data.
Still, Israeli officials say the war will continue in a lower-intensity phase throughout 2024.
That became clear Tuesday when Israel reportedly killed a senior Hamas official Lebanon was the deputy chairman of the political bureau of the Palestinian group.
Hamas has vowed revenge for the death Saleh al-Arourithe militant group's highest-ranking official to die since the war broke out on October 7.
Palestinian militants also said this in an Iranian military message telegram The broadcaster said Israel had suffered “significant losses” in Gaza and would fail in 2024.
IDF chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that Israel was ready to completely defeat Hamas.
“The most important thing we can say tonight is that we are focused on fighting Hamas and will continue to do so,” Hagari said.
Read full coverage of the Israel-Hamas war at TheHill.com.