Report: Israel sets end of January to end ‘intense phase’ of Gaza war

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (L) meets with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (R) in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 14, 2023 [GPO – Handout – Anadolu Agency]

Israel intends to end the “intense phase” of its war on Gaza by the end of January, a “timetable” which was presented to US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, during his visit to Tel Aviv yesterday, showed, according to Channel 12.

Following the “intense phase”, Israeli occupation forces will withdraw from the heart of Gaza and be deployed on defence lines in and out of the Strip, the report continued.

The third and most prolonged stage is expected to last for most of 2024, and consist of “localised raids and operations” with the aim of eradicating the Hamas movement, the report said, explaining that Israel wants to maintain control over Gaza for the foreseeable future.

The report described the schedule as “realistic” and one that both Tel Aviv and Washington can agree on.

READ: Palestine police deployed in Gaza City

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.