We start in the Middle East, where it appears Israel is moving to a new phase of its military operation. Residents from the Southern Gaza City of Khan Unis have started to return home after the Israel Defense Forces say they have withdrawn all of its maneuvering ground forces, leaving just one brigade. Israeli Defense Minister, Yoha Galant, says troops have been pulled out to prepare for future missions, including into Gaza's Southern city of Rafe. Much of the Khan Unis area is now in ruins after months of bombades bombardment and heavy fighting between Israeli troops and fighters from Palestinian groups. Sunday, marked six months since Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US, UK, and others, attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 others hostages. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to crush and destroy Hamas, so that it no longer posed any threat, launching a mission to bring all hostages home. In the war that has followed, Gaza's Hamas run Health Ministry says at least 33,000 people have been killed. Israel says many thousands of those are armed militants. On Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters in Israel took to the streets, calling for the Israeli government to strike a deal to bring home hostages and for Mr.

Netanyahu to resign. Well, let's speak now to our international editor, Jeremy Bowen, who is in Jerusalem. Jeremy, good to see you. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under huge pressure at home and internationally. What's your assessment of where this conflict could go what his next move could be?

Well, those troops are pulling back from Khan Unis, or they've gone, and there've been pictures. Of course, we can't get into Gaza ourselves, but because the Israelis and the Egyptians won't let us, But there are pictures circulating from Gaza of people walking in the morning sun back through the ruins towards Khan Unis. There are different theories about why the Israelis are doing this. They are saying themselves that they're going to sort themselves out, re-equip, retrain, and get ready for an assault on Rafeh. There are other speculations in the Israeli media this morning that actually it's more with an eye to the negotiations going on for a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Kyra, in which the Americans are very deeply involved, and that Hamas is calling for a pull out of Gaza. Perhaps there's a theory that if they pull back from Khan Younes, that might be attractive as a halfway house. It's not clear. To be honest, over the months when there have been these negotiations between the different sides, regarding a hostage prisoner swap, regarding a ceasefire, I think we've learned it's foolish to speculate in advance about which way they will go because lots of leaks come out of it.

But it does appear that the Americans are keen to try to get a deal done.

I As you said, Jeremy, people are starting to return to the area of Khan Unis. What do you think this so-called next phase will mean when it comes to getting aid into Gaza?

Well, under massive pressure from the Americans after that team from the World Central Kitchens were killed by the Israelis, which, incidentally, that organization is one of the few of the relief organizations there, which actually was considered to have a pretty good relationship with the Israelis. Countries. But after that, Joe Biden put massive pressure on Israel's Prime Minister, Netanyahu, to open up more crossings, which Netanyahu had always said would be impossible. Well, he opened them, or they're in the process of being opened and also promised to allow us some aid through the container port of Ashdod. But it's still very early days, and it's not clear whether trucks are moving through the Erris Crossing into the north. To be honest, it will take a massive influx of aid, not just food aid, but medical aid, and the people to administer it, to stave off what, by common consent and by hard data, is an imminent famine in Northern Gaza, which might already have arrived.

Jeremy, what about the future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as those demonstrations continue to grow around Israel and anger continues to grow about the lack of the return of those hostages.

Yeah, those demonstrations. The things to know about those demonstrations are, it's not like they're not demonstrating for an end to the war. What they're demonstrating is against the government saying, Why on Earth have you not managed after six months, to do some a deal to get those hostages back? Because there is a deal to be done if Israel is prepared to, nasty language, but it's what it is, pay the price in terms of of releasing Palestinian prisoners and exceeding to some of the other demands that Hamas has made. You talk to people in those demos and they say, Look, make the deal, get the hostages back, then do what you want in Gaza. But that pro-hostage movement, if you like, has come together with the pre-existing anti-Netanyahu movement. They were demonstrating very much in the months before Hamas attacked at the beginning of October last year. For a while, they put everything on hold, national unity, rallying around the flag and all that thing. But now it is absolutely not seen as unpatriotic to demonstrate in the streets because they want Netanyahu out. But he has a parliamentary majority, and as long as he can hold on to that parliamentary majority, it's a couple of years before the next election.

Okay, Jeremy, in Jerusalem, thank.