Israel moves into more difficult phase of Gaza war

TEL AVIV — Israel is shifting the focus of its military campaign to southern Gaza, where it will likely face the most difficult phase of the six-week-old war as it seeks to crush Hamas and recover hostages in a context of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Israeli forces have largely succeeded in taking control of northern Gaza. But they only partially destroyed Hamas’s military capabilities and did not capture or kill many of its top leaders, senior Israeli officers and analysts say.