play videoplay video
Video duration: 09 minutes 39 seconds 09:39
The Israeli occupation army announced - according to official sources - the withdrawal of two brigades from the Khan Yunis Governorate, south of the Gaza Strip, despite repeated statements by political and military officials about the intensification of operations there.
An interactive map presented by Al Jazeera showed the withdrawal of Israeli forces and military vehicles from Salah al-Din Street in the Central Governorate 5 days ago, in addition to the disappearance of vehicles from the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the north.
In this context, the military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, says that the eastern region of Khan Yunis Governorate is twice the area of the city of Khan Yunis, and there are elite forces from the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wings of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad, respectively.
Al-Duwairi adds that the occupation destroyed the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis, and was unable to enter it. It is also facing great difficulties east of the areas of New Abasan and Abasan Al-Kabira, in which it suffers high human losses. “This is why it chose to go to the area most important to its strategic goals,” referring to focusing its attack on the city of Khan Yunis. The forces retreated to the eastern region.
Al-Duwairi means the presence of Hamas’ first-line political and military leaders and Israeli prisoners in the place, “which means that there is a surplus of forces.” In addition, these brigades have been fighting for months and need to recover and rehabilitate after suffering major losses.
Another scenario also emerges - according to Al-Duwairi - which is the withdrawal of these forces from Khan Yunis towards the northern front with the Lebanese Hezbollah in light of the escalation of the Israeli tone regarding the necessity of the latter retreating beyond the Litani River, otherwise this will be done militarily.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported the withdrawal of the 4th and 55th Brigades from the Gaza Strip after the end of their mission there, while Israeli Army Radio said that the 4th Reserve Brigade, known as “Kiryati,” includes thousands of soldiers and was fighting in the areas north and east of Khan Yunis.
As for the rest of the fighting axes in the Gaza Strip, the military expert confirms that there is a decision to withdraw Israeli forces from the northern region, and only enter to carry out specific military missions, indicating that the most important point for the occupation is the establishment of a buffer zone from the far northeast to the entire eastern strip of the Gaza Strip.
In the Central Governorate, where there are 3 brigades, the Israeli mechanisms partially succeeded in separating the camps from each other, but after the specific raid operation and the failure of the occupation to achieve any achievement in the Bureij camp, the forces retreated and maintained a buffer zone with the raids.
Source: Al Jazeera