The Israeli has revealed that it expected the Gaza war to continue all through 2024.
In a new year’s message, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said troop deployments were being adjusted to prepare for “prolonged fighting”.
Daniel Hagari said some troops – especially reservists – would be withdrawn to allow them to regroup.
“These adaptations are intended to ensure the planning and preparation for continuing the war in 2024,” he said.
“The IDF must plan ahead out of an understanding that there will be additional missions and the fighting will continue the rest of the year.”
He said that some reservists would leave Gaza “as soon as this week” to allow them to “re-energise ahead of the coming operations”.
Some 21,978 people – mostly women and children – have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Its latest update said 56,697 people in Gaza had been wounded over the same period.
The figures included 156 people killed and 246 injured in the last 24 hours, the ministry added.
The latest war was triggered by an unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed – most of them civilians – and about 240 others taken hostage.
Israel continued its bombardment of Gaza up until the end of what has been a dark year in the region.
The IDF said it killed a senior Hamas commander involved in the 7 October attack, Adil Mismah, in an overnight strike on the town of Deir al-Balah.
The Gaza health ministry reported at least 48 deaths in overnight bombing in Gaza City. Witnesses told the AFP news agency that another strike killed 20 people sheltering at Al-Aqsa University in the city’s west.
Another strike on Monday morning was said to have killed at least 10 people in the al-Maghazi refugee camp.
