The Israeli Defense Minister says that Israeli troops will remain indefinitely in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, while the army tightens its grip on several occupied territories.
“Unlike the past, the (Israeli soldiers) does not evacuate the areas that have been erased and seized,” Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday.
The army “will remain in security areas as a buffer between enemy communities and (Israeli) in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria,” the statement said.
The soldiers said that he had transformed 30% of Gaza into a “security” buffer zone and reached around 1,200 “terrorist targets” since his resumption of his offensive on March 18, after a truce of almost two months in Gaza with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to destroy Hamas and return 59 captives held by armed groups in Gaza, including 24 which, according to Israel, are alive. Hamas said that it would not agree to release the captives without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.
On Wednesday, the Islamic Palestinian group of jihad published a video by Roma Braslavski captive. He seemed to be under constraint, said he was covered with wounds and pleaded with Netanyahu to stop the war. The main organization representing families of captives accused the Israeli government in a declaration of “choosing to seize the territory before hostages”.
Israel says that he must keep control of what he calls “security zones” to prevent a repetition of the October 7, 2023 attack on Hamas in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 others have been removed – including captives that have already been released by Hamas, and those who are still held by the group.
Netanyahu also said that Israel will implement the proposal of American president Donald Trump for the resettlement of a large part of the population of Gaza in other countries through what Netanyahu calls “voluntary emigration”.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said that Israel’s continuing presence in certain regions of southern Lebanon “entered” the complete deployment of the Lebanese army, as required by the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
According to the agreement signed in November, which ended more than a year of war, the two parties agreed to withdraw from southern Lebanon and leave the region to be controlled by the Lebanese army. However, Israel only partially withdrew his troops from the south of the country, leaving the soldiers in at least five places.
The Lebanon Ministry of Health said two Israeli drone strikes in southern Lebanon killed two people on Wednesday. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 70 civilians since the ceasefire entered into force in November.
Israel also established several military posts within Syrian territory, notably at the top of Mont Hermon, after war aircraft launched hundreds of strikes in the aftermath of the former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
The Israeli government immediately revealed its position towards the new Syrian government led by the former opposition group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), calling it “a terrorist group of Idlib which took Damascus by force”, and has since refused to withdraw from the territories it has seized.
“ No humanitarian aid ” to enter Gaza
Katz said in a statement on X that Israel’s policy was “clear”.
“No humanitarian aid will be authorized in Gaza,” the Minister of Defense said on Wednesday.
Preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip “is one of the main pressure tools that prevents Hamas from using this means against the population,” he added.
“In current reality, no one will allow humanitarian aid in Gaza, and no preparation is made to allow help of this type.”
The Minister of Israeli Culture, Miki Zohar, echoes this position, saying: “The contemptible murderers in Gaza do not deserve any humanitarian aid of a civil or military mechanism.”
“Only Hellfire should be paid to the creators of terrorism until the last hostages come back from Gaza,” said Zohar on X.
The Israeli authorities have prevented any aid in the seizure of Gaza for more than six weeks, aggravating the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
On Wednesday, the United Nations rejected a new authorization mechanism which claimed to introduce greater control over the delivery of aid to Gaza by Israeli forces, declaring that aid organizations already had a mechanism in place to ensure that the aid is not diverted to Hamas.
“Gaza help delivery has been obstructed for too long,” said the UN, adding that its teams were “ready to help those who need it most of humanitarian principles”.
Meanwhile, Israeli air raids continued on Wednesday, with at least 35 people killed in attacks in Gaza, Tel Aviv Tribune told Tel Aviv Tribune. Palestinian journalist Fatima Hassouneh and 10 family members were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted their house in Gaza City.