GAllant believes there are still goals to be achieved in the Gaza Strip, including the release of hostages held by Hamas, but during a visit to troops in the north he suggested that concern may now be more about an escalation of the conflict with the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
The minister admitted that if tensions continue to rise, “all operational possibilities must be taken into account”, insisting on the need for the Israel Defense Forces to be prepared “for anything that may happen”.
Gallant also advocated continuing efforts to allow citizens who left their homes in northern Israel to return, admitting that this possibility could occur in a short space of time.
The border between Israel and Lebanon is experiencing its highest peak of tension since 2006, with an intense exchange of fire over the last ten months, which has cost the lives of at least 625 people, most of them on the Lebanese side and in the ranks of Hezbollah, which has confirmed 385 victims, some in Syria, in addition to more than 120 civilians.
In Israel, 49 people died in the north of the country (23 soldiers and 26 civilians, including 12 minors in the attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams).
The hostilities take place against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023 with an attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in southern Israel, leaving around 1,200 dead and kidnapping around 200 people.
In response, Israel launched a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, which has already caused more than 40,000 deaths, most of them civilians, and a humanitarian disaster in the Palestinian enclave, in addition to destabilizing the entire Middle East.
In recent days, Israel’s attacks on Lebanon targeting Hezbollah militia facilities have intensified, as have the Iranian-backed Shiite group’s responses.
Three weeks ago, fears of an open war between the sides grew again after an Israeli bombing killed the Lebanese group’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, on the outskirts of Beirut.
The Israeli army today detected the launch of around 75 rockets from Lebanon, 55 in the morning and 20 in the afternoon, indicating that “some were intercepted” and the rest fell in open areas.
Following the shooting this morning, Israeli forces attacked “a rocket launcher of the [grupo xiita libanês] Hezbollah in the Beit Lif area in southern Lebanon, from where projectiles were launched “into Israeli territory,” the army reported.
Today’s war episodes follow a heavy Israeli attack on Monday against a “weapons depot” in the Bekah Valley, far from the line of the rest of the bombardments of recent days.
“Following the attacks, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of large quantities of weapons in the affected facilities,” said an Army statement on the incident.
At least eight people, two of them children, were injured in Israeli shelling in this Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health’s Emergency Operations Center said in a statement that the attacks on the area injured six Lebanese citizens and two Syrian minors, one of whom was five years old and the other 15.
Read Also: Mediators meet with Israel to ‘build bridges’ for truce
Download our free App.
Eighth consecutive year Consumer Choice for Online Press and elected product of the year 2024.
* Study by Netsonda, Nov. and Dec. 2023 productoftheyear- pt.com
Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2618301/israel-devera-transferir-foco-militar-de-gaza-para-fronteira-com-libano
