Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said – today, Thursday – that the war in Gaza will continue for additional months, while his Defense Minister Yoav Galant spoke about the possibilities of a comprehensive confrontation with the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Netanyahu added – in statements published by Israeli media – that the war on Gaza will continue until its goals of “decisive victory” over Hamas and the recovery of those he described as kidnapped are achieved.
He added that stopping the war before achieving the goals would be a message of weakness and harm Israel for generations to come.
The Israeli Prime Minister also said that the war will continue on all fronts until the goals that have been set are achieved, indicating that a huge budget has been passed to achieve those goals.
He pointed out that he informed the United States that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any post-war scenario.
Regarding what was said about disagreements within his government, he denied that he had initiated the removal of Defense Minister Gallant.
On another topic, Netanyahu accused Iran of being behind Hezbollah attacks on the northern border and Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Preparing for war
In simultaneous statements, Israeli Defense Minister Galant said that there are developments that he described as dangerous, requiring Israel to be drawn into war on its northern borders to ensure the return of residents to their homes.
Galant added – during his speech regarding military developments in Gaza – that Israel does not want to fight a war in the north, but it must prepare for the deterioration of the security situation there, referring to the ongoing confrontations for months between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Regarding the situation in Gaza, he said that there is no complete solution to what he called “pockets of resistance” in Gaza.
The Israeli minister considered that Hamas is trying to manipulate the emotions of Israelis to divide society.
He also considered that Hamas has become more weak in obtaining supplies and controlling matters in Gaza, saying that Israel destroyed the organizational frameworks of the Hamas movement in the northern Gaza Strip and killed thousands of its militants, as he put it.
For his part, member of the Security Ministerial Council, Gideon Sa’ar, said that stopping the war now means complete surrender to Hamas, adding that this is the greatest strategic harm to Israel.
On the other hand, Israeli member of the Knesset from the Labor Party, Efrat Raitin, expressed her support for stopping the fighting in Gaza in order to return the Israelis detained there, and called for taking what she described as strict and courageous decisions on the part of the war government.
Raitin said that since Israel was dragged into the ground war, many Israeli soldiers have lost their lives, adding that detainees return dead and even their bodies remain in Gaza.
Ben Gvir vision
Meanwhile, Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said that his vision for the day after the war on Gaza is for continued control of the Strip, and he repeated his call for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents of the Strip, in addition to the elimination of the head of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
Ben Gvir believed that Netanyahu must choose between the old method of War Council member Benny Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid and the method of decisiveness in the north and south and achieving victory over those he described as Israel’s enemies.
Regarding the West Bank, the Israeli minister said that Palestinian workers should not be allowed to return to work in Israel because this poses a threat to the lives of Israelis, as he put it.