The newspaper "Le Parisien" said that the Israeli occupation army announced on Saturday that it had removed all threats and controlled the northern third of the Gaza Strip, and the war is now expected to enter its "third phase", with targeted operations focused on the rest of the Gaza Strip, as demands to reduce the intensity of combat is more urgent.

The newspaper explained - in a report written by Leo Agesi - that a major chapter of the Israeli attack had ended with the war entering its fourth month on Sunday, and the Israeli army announcing that it had “finished dismantling the military structure of Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip,” after it destroyed entire neighborhoods and displaced 85% of the population, causing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Units remaining

Some areas in the northern Gaza Strip, representing about 15%, are still outside the control of the Israeli army, according to the American Institute for the Study of War, but they are “within firing range,” and Hamas “should not risk them,” as former officer Guillaume Ancel assumes.

Middle East affairs expert Sebastien Bossois says, "Even if fighters were able to appear there, the Israeli army issued a decree that the remaining structures were no longer able to harm it, and the army withdrew several military units from this part of the territory."

Ancel adds, “To maintain control over this war-torn area, of which only ruins remain, the Israeli army must make it a buffer zone by creating a small force responsible for ensuring that no one enters it, and making it a no-go zone, as it appears that "The return of the displaced population is out of the question at this stage."

It is assumed that the clashes will now be concentrated in the center and south of the region in the city of Khan Yunis, as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant confirmed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the Israeli army “will begin the third phase of the war in the Gaza Strip,” and will abandon extensive and extensive operations. Range to take advantage of more targeted attacks.

Reduced combat intensity

The aforementioned third phase of the war, for which Israel's allies who fear the outbreak of a regional conflagration are pressing, is represented by "less lethal" operations, called for by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is visiting Israel, urging "the protection of Palestinian civilians" and the implementation of targeted operations to combat terrorism."

Guillaume Ancel explains that the characteristics of this “third phase” are supposed to reduce the number of casualties on both sides, “demobilize part of the Israeli army, reduce bombing, and provide massive humanitarian aid.”

But “the transition to the third stage will take at least a few more weeks,” said David Khalfa, co-director of the North Africa and Middle East Observatory of the French Jean Jaurès Foundation.

Source: Le Parisien + Aljazeera