Israel withdraws thousands of troops from Gaza in possible precursor to scaled-back offensive

The planned troop withdrawal came on the same day that Israel's Supreme Court struck down part of Netanyahu's polarising judicial overhaul.

Transcript

00:00 Israel`s army says several thousand troops would be taken out of Gaza in the coming weeks

00:06 with the plans for a low intensity campaign.

00:09 But on the same day, drone footage showed destruction of a residential building in Deir

00:15 al-Bala in central Gaza, caused by Israeli airstrikes in which they claimed to have killed

00:20 a major Hamas commander.

00:22 The Palestine Red Crescent says it`s established its first organized camp in Can Yunis for

00:28 displaced Palestinians.

00:31 Israel has secured its border with Gaza and announced that the first phase of a program

00:36 to encourage those who were driven out of their homes following the October 7 attack

00:41 by Hamas militants to return.

00:43 "According to the IDF and the security system, we will soon return the settlements located

00:49 in a 4-7 km radius in the north of the area to their homes.

00:55 The first group of seven settlements has already been captured, they have received a notice.

01:00 The generational kibbutz where we are now is one of them."

01:06 Thousands were forced to leave their homes in southern Israel following the October 7

01:10 attack, when militants rampaged through numerous communities, killing around 1,200 people and

01:16 abducting around 240.

01:20 Israel still has around 129 hostages to free.

01:24 Meanwhile, Hamas released footage of a barrage of rockets launched just after midnight on

01:29 New Year`s Day from Gaza towards central and southern Israel.

01:34 No injuries were reported.

01:36 (whooshing)