Israeli military pulls all ground troops out of southern Gaza – as Egypt prepares to host new round of talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire and hostage release deal

Israel has withdrawn all ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson said on Sunday as delegations prepare to meet in Egypt to discuss possible ceasefire terms.

‘Today, Sunday April 7th, the IDF’s 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Yunis. The division left the Gaza Strip in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations,’ the army said in a statement. 

Asked whether this meant all troops have left south Gaza, an army official confirmed: ‘Yes.’

It was unclear whether the withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Israeli leaders have said is needed to eliminate Hamas.

The announcement coincides with the six-month anniversary of Hamas’ brutal October 7 incursion into Israel, killing some 1,170 people and taking 254 hostage according to Israeli figures.

The assault triggered a devastating Israeli invasion the Gaza Strip, estimated to have killed at least 33,175 and wounded 75,886 since October.

Without a significant recovery of the hostages since November, protests have mounted within Israel to call for a ceasefire deal that would see their exchange, while Israel’s leadership comes under pressure from its allies to seek peace terms amid fears of famine in the Palestinian enclave.

In Cairo, American and Israeli negotiators are expected to meet today to talk through a possible deal that would see hostages exchanged in return for a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. 

In a new push, CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani will join Egyptian officials for indirect talks from Sunday between the Israeli and Hamas delegations, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News said.

Hamas has confirmed that its core demands are a complete ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces – conditions Israel has previously rejected.

Israel has stated that its objectives are to return those held hostage and to ‘eradicate’ Hamas. 

Washington blames the failure to achieve a lasting ceasefire so far on Hamas’ refusal to release sick and other vulnerable hostages, while Qatar has said Israeli objections to the return of displaced Gazans are the main obstacle.

It comes at a sensitive time in the conflict, amid fears that the war could spread after Iran vowed to hit back for the killing of seven of its Revolutionary Guards in an air strike Monday on the consular annex of its embassy in Damascus.

Iran’s leaders have pledged retaliation, and the leader Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has called the consulate strike a ‘turning point’. 

Israel’s military said Sunday its warplanes had struck Hezbollah sites in eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek region, where the group has a strong presence, in retaliation for one of its drones being downed.

Israel also faces pressure over the deaths of seven volunteer workers, killed in a procession of Israeli strikes last week while delivering aid with the World Central Kitchen.

The group had just unloaded supplies at a warehouse in central Gaza when a vehicle some were travelling in was hit by a precision R9X Hellfire missile shortly before midnight on Monday.

Passengers were seen scrambling from the wreckage and jumping into the other two cars – and telling the IDF they had come under fire. 

The remaining vehicles were hit after travelling just 1,000 yards up the road, on a street ‘designated for the passage of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The third car tried to take the injured to safety but was hit by a drone after making it a mile up the coastal road, killing all seven of the volunteers.

Since then, the three main British opposition parties and some lawmakers in the governing party have said the British government should consider suspending arm sales to Israel.

UN chief Antonio Guterres labelled ‘unconscionable’ and ‘an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted’. 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Netanyahu that Britain was appalled by the deaths and demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation, Sunak’s office said.

Britain also summoned the Israeli ambassador to London and has demanded ‘full accountability’ over the deaths, which foreign secretary David Cameron described as ‘completely unacceptable’.

In a strongly worded statement, US President Joe Biden said Israel ‘has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.’ 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he expressed ‘anger and concern’ to Netanyahu in a separate call.

Poland said ‘it does not agree to the lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers’, and demanded compensation for the families of the killed WCK staff.

Israel maintains the strikes were accidental, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledging that the ‘tragic case’ would be investigated ‘right to the end’.

‘This happens in war,’ he said. ‘We are conducting a thorough inquiry and are in contact with the governments. We will do everything to prevent a recurrence.’

Chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi added: ‘I want to be very clear – the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers.

‘It was a mistake that followed a misidentification – at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,’ Halevi said. 

The Israeli military pledged an investigation by ‘an independent, professional and expert body’.

But the deaths have seen Israel’s allies step up calls for an urgent ceasefire, stressing the dire humanitarian situation.

Marking the six-month anniversary of the conflict, Rishi Sunak said in a statement: ‘We continue to stand by Israel’s right to defeat the threat from Hamas terrorists and defend their security.

‘But the whole of the UK is shocked by the bloodshed, and appalled by the killing of brace British heroes who were bringing food to those in need.

‘This terrible conflict must end. The hostages must be released. The aid – which we have been straining every sinew to deliver by land, air and sea – must be flooded in.

‘The children of Gaza need a humanitarian pause immediately, leading to a long-term sustainable ceasefire. That is the fastest way to get hostages out and aid in, and to stop the fighting and loss of life.

‘For the good of both Israelis and Palestinians – who all deserve to live in peace, dignity and security – that is what we will keep working to achieve.’