Israel, which said over the weekend it had successfully dismantled Hamas's military structure in northern Gaza, said it was taking a different tactical approach in the south, where a population seeking safety there fears what the outcome of the war will be in the coming years Months.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday that the military was working differently than in the north in the central and southern Gaza Strip, where most of the enclave's population of about 2.2 million people are clustered, including about a million evacuees from the north. However, he did not elaborate on what specifically would change, saying the shift was based on lessons “learned from previous fighting.”
In the northern half of the strip, where Israel began its ground invasion in late October, the military has “completed the dismantling of Hamas's military framework,” Admiral Hagari said, but added that forces there are still cracking down on militants who persist the battle, even after their command structure was destroyed.
He added that fighting would continue throughout 2024.
Gabi Siboni, a military reserve colonel and member of the conservative-leaning Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said Hamas maintains above- and underground infrastructure in the north, “so it is still a combat zone.” Despite the Israeli military's successes, Hamas is “a difficult and determined enemy” that has been arming itself and “building underground fortresses” for years, he said.
“It will take time to completely dismantle it,” Mr. Siboni said, adding that fighting in the south was further complicated by the density of the civilian population there and that it may have to last until 2025.
The Israeli military's suggestion that fighting in Gaza would continue throughout the coming year further frightened the people of Gaza, who have already suffered heavy losses in the first three months of the war – family, friends, neighbors, homes , workplaces, schools and even a growing number of cases the ability to feed themselves.
“As unarmed civilians who have nothing to do with the resistance or carry weapons, we are in great danger,” said Youssef, 32, a Gaza City resident who was displaced twice while trying to flee the fighting .
While the Israeli military successfully ordered many Gazans in the north to evacuate south in the early stages of the war – exactly how many are unknown – there is no way out for the people of central and southern Gaza except to move further in to push the Gaza Strip The heavily congested city of Rafah on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.
According to the United Nations, more than a million people are already crowded into Rafah's prisons. And people cannot move back north: apart from the ongoing fighting in northern Gaza, this part of the territory is largely in ruins.
A camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, last week. In the central and southern Gaza Strip, people have nowhere to go except to push further into the heavily congested city. Source: Saleh Salem/Portal
The United Nations estimated in late December that around 65,000 housing units across the Gaza Strip had been destroyed and nearly 300,000 more damaged, meaning more than half a million people will have no home to return to.
For those whose houses are still habitable, many more cannot live in them immediately because the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is so dilapidated and explosive residue from the fighting would make returning too risky.
Meanwhile, displaced people in the Gaza Strip are struggling with worsening shortages of food, water, warm clothing and shelter for the winter weather. According to aid organizations, around half of Gaza's residents are at risk of starvation.
“There are children and there is no food or clothing, especially because it is winter,” Youssef said. “When we talk about suffering, I need a lot of time to explain it.”
He added: “We have the right to return to our homes and see our children, have food, water and drink and be safe.”