Israel begins Gaza troop withdrawal - Al Jazeera
Photo: Troops move into Philadelphia Corridor (Getty Images)
On Sunday, January 19, Israel began withdrawing troops from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. The military is pulling back its equipment, informs Al Jazeera.
According to the publication, Israeli forces are retreating to the Philadelphi Corridor, located on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
What preceded this
On Thursday, January 16, negotiators in Doha signed a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas regarding Gaza, which also included the release of hostages. Over the following two days, the agreement was approved by Israel’s security cabinet and government.
It was reported that the agreement would take effect starting today, January 19. However, it remains unclear whether the truce will begin as scheduled, as Hamas failed to provide a timely list of hostages it plans to release.
Notably, yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his first public comments on the deal with Hamas. He described the initial phase of the agreement on hostage release as a "temporary ceasefire."
According to Netanyahu, both US President-elect Donald Trump and the outgoing President Joe Biden emphasized that Israel is free to resume military actions in Gaza if subsequent stages of the agreement are not implemented. Furthermore, the United States has pledged to supply Israel with necessary weapons.
