Thousands of Israeli soldiers are being moved out of the Gaza Strip, the military has said, marking the first significant drawdown of troops since the war began.
Israel also pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts, residents said, in what the US said was a shift to different military tactics in northern Gaza.
The US, Israel’s chief ally, has pressured the country in recent weeks to switch to lower-intensity fighting.
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Dozens killed in recent days as Israeli offensive continues
Five brigades, totalling several thousand troops, will be taken out of the enclave in the coming weeks for training and rest, the IDF said.
But fierce fighting continued in other areas of Gaza, especially the southern city of Khan Younis and central areas of the territory.
Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari did not say whether the decision means Israel is launching a new phase of the war.
“The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly,” he said.
News of the drawdown came ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region and after the Biden administration bypassed Congress for the second time this month to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel.
Antony Blinken with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in January 2023
Israel has vowed to charge ahead until its war aims have been achieved, including dismantling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years.
Israel responded to the Hamas attack on 7 October with a blistering air, ground and sea offensive that has killed more than 21,800 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The war