The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said to have withdrawn overnight all ground troops from southern Gaza.
This announcement came four months after the Israeli military started fighting on the ground in the Khan Younis area.
Only the Nahal Brigade has remained in the area, the Times of Israel reported, tasked with securing the Netzarim Corridor.
This east-west passage linking the Be’eri area in southern Israel to the Mediterranean Sea was built by the IDF and cuts through the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army denied the withdrawal was prompted by a US demand from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rather, it was explained as the outcome of the exhaustion of all intelligence and combat operations in the region.
An army official reported by the Israeli news outlet said: “The logic that leads us today is mistaken… We are willing to operate whenever we’re needed, but there’s no need for us to remain in the sector without an [operational] need… The 98th division dismantled Hamas’ Khan Yunis brigades and killed thousands of its members. We did everything we could there.”
The announcement was made on Sunday, a day marking six months since the unprecedented terror attack launched by Hamas on Israel.
During the assault, 1,139 people were killed and more than 240 hostages were dragged to the Strip, according to Israeli authorities.
Since then, Hamas has released more than 100 people but continues to hold some 130 hostages.
This unprecedented assault by Hamas prompted Tel Aviv to respond with airstrikes and a ground operation into Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip has claimed that more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past six months.
The IDF has claimed in a recent statement to have eliminated around 13,000 Hamas fighters, and has named the senior leaders of the terror group believed to have been killed.
On March 26, the Israeli military claimed to have killed Marwan Issa, deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing.
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