The IDF evacuated tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians from northern Gaza on Sunday as it invaded Jabalya for the fourth time since the start of the war.
The IDF has been attempting to apply new pressure on Hamas Chief Yahya Sinwar since mid-June in order to secure a hostage exchange deal on terms acceptable to the government. However, they have been unsuccessful in their efforts so far.
In recent months, former national security council chief Giora Eiland and a group of hundreds of mid-level reservist officers have been advocating for a complete evacuation of northern Gaza in order to exert new pressure on Sinwar.
Sunday’s move by the IDF appeared to be a middle-ground position of relocating a significant portion of the 150,000-250,000 Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza without fully implementing the Eiland plan.
Alternatively, the move could be a prelude to a gradual and deliberate evacuation of northern Gaza, but at a slower pace to minimize global opposition, particularly from the US.
The military focused on the 162nd Division’s 401st and 460th armored brigades, having surrounded Jabalya overnight after receiving intelligence that Hamas had been reconstituting itself in the area.
Until now, the 162nd Division had been fighting Hamas in Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor since early May but has now handed that area over to the less robust Gaza Division, based on the idea that most of its work in Rafah has been completed.
The IDF said that it has already carried out dozens of airstrikes and artillery shelling prior to the ground troops entering Jabalya. .
IDF sources did not commit to a specific timeline for their stay in Jabalya, but similar re-invasions have lasted a duration of several days to a few weeks.
At the same time, the IDF has expanded the Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi in northern Gaza, the military announced Sunday morning.
This expansion included field hospitals established since the outbreak of the war, tent compounds, and supplies of food, water, and medicine.
The military stated that two evacuation routes from northern Gaza to the South have been reopened: one along the Salah al-Din Road and the other along the Al-Rashid coastal road.
The IDF also noted that it had also published maps for Palestinian civilians highlighting evacuation areas in northern Gaza, including "block zones" that correspond to neighborhoods and regions.
This evacuation also comes only a day after the IDF started to evacuate Palestinian civilians from parts of central Gaza, where Division 252 is still searching out to fight concealed Hamas cells.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.