Israel Pulling Out 5,000 Troops As World Slams Netanyahu

The Israeli military has confirmed that it was pulling thousands of troops out of the Gaza Strip, a step that could clear the way for a new long-term phase of lower-intensity fighting against the Hamas militant group, Josef Federman, Wafaa Shurafa and Samy Magdy reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The troop drawdown came the same day that Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul plan. I Photo: Israel Defense Forces Facebook

The troop drawdown came the same day that Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul plan.

While the plan is not directly connected to the war effort, it was the source of deep divisions inside Israel and had threatened the military’s readiness before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered the ongoing war.

Politicians warned against reigniting those divisions and harming the national unity that has prevailed throughout the Israel-Hamas war.

Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the offensive until Hamas is crushed and the more than 100 hostages still held by the militant group in Gaza are freed. But Israel has come under intense international pressure to scale back an offensive that has killed 22,000 Palestinians, more than 40% of them children.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in the region next week.

Israel also faces a case for genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for justifying the mass slaughter of Palestinians to eliminate Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israeli soldiers, about 400 since Oct. 7, and destroyed dozens of Merkava tanks with Yasin rocket-propelled grenades with double armor-piercing charges, Melanie Lidman and Tara Copp also reported for AP.

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