The Israeli military is reportedly planning to end its ground invasion in the Gaza Strip and shift its focus to continued aerial assaults as part of a new phase in its genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian territory.
Citing unnamed sources, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday that the regime’s military is “preparing to move to the third phase of the fighting in Gaza in the coming weeks.”
The new stage includes “ending the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, reducing army forces and demobilizing reserves, resorting to airstrikes, and establishing a buffer zone on the border” between the occupied territories and Gaza, the report added.
It also claimed that the Israeli military “took control of most of the northern Gaza Strip area,” noting, however, that it faces “great difficulties in moving forward” in the south.
The report comes days after the Israeli army’s much-hyped Golani Brigade was forced to withdraw from Gaza to “reorganize its ranks” after suffering huge losses at the hands of resistance fighters.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that Israeli forces face “deadly” and “surreal” traps in Gaza.
Resistance fighters are using loudspeakers, which broadcast sounds of people weeping or speaking Hebrew, in a bid to lure Israeli troops into traps, it added.
Israel waged the brutal war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
However, 79 days into the war, Tel Aviv has failed to achieve its objectives of eliminating Hamas and finding Israeli captives in Gaza.
Since the start of the aggression, the regime has killed at least 20,258 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 53,688 others.
Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in the Palestinian territory, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.
