Everyone should have seen the recent news of the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the Israeli army has withdrawn almost all ground troops from Gaza, and only one brigade has been retained for defense. Previously, Israel had always claimed to fight to the end, even threatening to stand "on the opposite side" of all humanity and ignoring criticism from all over the world. So, after nearly half a year of conflict in Gaza, why did Israel suddenly change its position and withdraw its troops on its own initiative?
Let's take a look at what happened before the Israeli army withdrew. On March 25, the Security Council adopted a resolution on a ceasefire in Gaza, which was passed by the United States with a rare abstention vote. However, after that, Israel did not seem to have ceased fire, and bombed the Iranian embassy on April 1, which made the United States quickly come out and disassociate itself, saying that it did not know about it and did not participate. Then, around April 4, U.S. President Joe Biden made an urgent call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding an immediate ceasefire and issuing threats.
From the above information, you can roughly see the following points:
On the one hand, the position of the United States vis-à-vis Israel is crucial, and the attitude of the United States largely determines the direction of Israel's actions. Recently, the United States has repeatedly criticized Israel's actions and publicly urged Israel to cease fire, putting increasing pressure on Israel. If the United States really no longer supports Israel, Israel's foothold in the Middle East will be seriously threatened. The hardening of the US attitude will inevitably have a certain impact on Israel.
On the other hand, most countries in the world, in addition to the United States, are also condemning Israel's actions in Gaza. Domestically, there is also a crowd of people who oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision-making. Under various pressures, Israel has chosen to withdraw part of its military forces in an attempt to ease the contradictions between the parties. For Israel, this adjustment is not a bad thing.
Moreover, as far as Israeli military operations are concerned, the Israeli army's operation in Gaza has not been successful. In the past six months of fighting, apart from creating more and more humanitarian disasters, the effectiveness of Israel's strikes against Hamas has not been obvious, and it is difficult for Israel itself to assess Hamas's actual losses.
Finally, and probably very important, from a military point of view, there could be a serious crisis, so the Israeli army must be prepared in advance. Iran is likely to seek retaliation, and Israel has previously bombed the Iranian embassy with the intention of provoking Iran and then pulling the United States out, and although the United Nations has explicitly called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israel wants to take the opportunity to provoke Iran and force the United States to intervene directly. However, not only did the United States publicly expose the incident, but 40 members of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly demanded an end to arms aid to Israel, which was originally the largest group of supporters of Israel.
Israel has also temporarily closed 28 consulates abroad for fear of Iranian retaliation, and the previous bombing of the Central Kitchen Group that killed seven staff members from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Poland and Palestine has sparked serious protests in those countries. Israel itself is in danger.
Without large-scale assistance from the United States, the only way to do so is to withdraw troops, otherwise to remain in Gaza would be to be exposed. The total withdrawal has now been largely completed, leaving only one brigade as a symbol. After Israel bombed the Iranian embassy, the United States may have taken the initiative to communicate with Iran.
At the same time, the United States has also pressured Israel to withdraw its troops, so that Iran can also step down, so as to avoid further escalation of the situation. It is uncertain whether Iran will accept this concession, which could lead to another Hamas attack. The United States now acts as an intermediary, trying to broker an agreement between Iran and Israel to identify Iranian strikes. If an agreement is reached, there could be another large-scale conflict in the Middle East.
The United States seems to be eager to teach Israel a very big lesson, but it cannot intervene directly, so it can only acquiesce to Iran's lesson. Even Trump, the pro-Israel president, has recently criticized Israel, suggesting that there is a consensus within the United States about teaching Israel a lesson. Unable to resist US pressure, Israel had no choice but to withdraw its troops and leave a force in Gaza to make the situation less embarrassing.
However, now that Israeli forces have withdrawn from southern Gaza, we need to continue to monitor the development of the situation. The current situation remains uncertain and unpredictable changes in the situation between Palestine and Israel. The Israeli defense minister responded that the withdrawal was for the purpose of attacking Rafah, and we should see how capable Israel is and is not afraid of retaliation, so let's try.