Israel says its army is beginning to shift to a more targeted Gaza campaign

Israel said its military is beginning to shift from a large-scale ground and air campaign in the Gaza Strip to a more focused phase in its war against Hamas, and Israeli officials privately told their American counterparts that they hoped the transition would be completed by 2010 . in late January, U.S. officials said.

Israel’s revelation came as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Israel was expected to urge officials there to curtail their campaign in Gaza and prevent the war from spreading across the region, especially in the aftermath of an Israeli attack last week that killed high-ranking Hamas officials. leaders in Lebanon and, as Hezbollah said, one of its commanders was killed in an attack in the country.

Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army’s chief spokesman, said the new phase of the campaign involved fewer troops and airstrikes. U.S. officials said they expected the transition to rely more on surgical missions by smaller groups of elite Israeli forces moving in and out of population centers in the Gaza Strip to find and kill Hamas leaders, rescue hostages and destroy tunnels.

“The war changed a phase,” Admiral Hagari said in an interview Monday. “But the transition will take place without ceremony,” he added. “It’s not about dramatic announcements.”

He said Israel would continue to reduce the number of troops in Gaza, a process that began this month. The intensity of operations in northern Gaza has already begun to decline, he added, as the army focuses on carrying out one-off attacks there rather than large-scale maneuvers.

Israel will now focus instead on Hamas’ southern and central strongholds, especially around Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, Admiral Hagari said, adding that he expected more aid and tents to be allowed into Gaza.

U.S. officials say they believe the number of Israeli troops in the northern part of Gaza has fallen to less than half of the roughly 50,000 troops present at the height of the campaign last month. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

Still, Israeli officials have made it clear to U.S. officials that while they hope to complete the transition by the end of the month, the timeline is not set in stone. If Israeli forces face Hamas resistance that is fiercer than expected, or if they discover threats they did not anticipate, the size and pace of the withdrawal could slow and intensive airstrikes could continue, they said.

President Biden has strongly supported Israel’s war in Gaza, in which the Israeli army, armed with American weapons, has killed about 23,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

But Mr. Biden is under pressure internationally and from his own administration to rein in Israel’s campaign, which was launched after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and captured 240 hostages.

Mr. Biden told aides last month that he wanted the Israelis to make the transition around Jan. 1. The Israelis presented the Americans with their own transition timeline. When Mr. Biden’s aides heard this, they urged the Israelis to act faster

With the transition underway, there is a growing sense of urgency among Israeli and US officials to come up with plans to restore and maintain law and order in the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces accelerate their withdrawal.

Israeli officials have told their American counterparts that they envision a loose network of local mayors, security officials and leaders of prominent Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip intervening to provide short-term basic security in the areas where they live. These local leaders could oversee the distribution of humanitarian aid and maintain day-to-day order, according to Israeli officials.

While many of these local leaders are likely to have some ties to Hamas, which took control of the area in 2007, Israeli officials see a district-by-district approach, in collaboration with aid groups on the ground, as their best option for distributing humanitarian aid and to provide citizens with a degree of security.

Israeli officials have floated a wide range of other ideas. Some of them have expressed hope that the Arab states will agree to send a peacekeeping force. Others have promoted the idea of ​​a multinational military force led by the United States, but with Israeli security supervision of the strip. But U.S. officials say their Israeli counterparts have not formally asked them to pursue the idea of ​​an international force because they know it is unlikely to happen.

Israel’s plans are generally not detailed enough, amid public disagreement among members of the government over how much control Israel should retain over Gaza after the war. Some have called for Israeli civilians to resettle the area, while others, such as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have ruled out an Israeli civilian presence.

To ensure security in the Gaza Strip in the medium and long term, US officials have proposed retraining members of the Palestinian Authority security forces. U.S. officials said they believed there are at least 6,000 members of these forces in the Gaza Strip, but that retraining them will take many months, and it is unclear whether Israel will accept their deployment or how the local population will receive them.

The Biden administration has called for a “renewed and revitalized” Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war, seeing this as a path to a two-state solution that would create a Palestinian state consisting of Gaza and the West Bank, a proposal that many Israelis on the right are against it. Until now, Israeli leaders have all but ruled out the idea of ​​the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority running the Gaza Strip, and many Palestinians see the Gaza Strip as corrupt and an extension of Israel.

The Palestinian Authority has said it will only assist in post-war governance if it is part of a broader process toward the creation of a Palestinian state.

On January 1, the Israeli military announced that it would begin withdrawing several thousand troops from the Gaza Strip, at least temporarily. Israeli officials privately told their American counterparts that this was the beginning of the transition.

Mr. Blinken has visited about half a dozen countries in the region since landing in Turkey on Friday and has spoken to leaders in each about how they could help in a post-war Gaza. He expects to speak with Israeli leaders in coming months about winding down the war and how the strip could function, a State Department official said during the trip.