Benjamin Netanyahu expands war goals to return Israelis to northern border

The decision to expands Israel’s war goals came as the Defence Minister warned only military action against Hezbollah would enable the return of displaced Israelis to northern communities.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Picture: AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as announced an expansion of the country’s war goals to include the return of thousands of northern residents who fled cross-border fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

“The political-security cabinet updated the goals of the war this evening, so that they include the following section: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Since the October 7 massacre, the country’s war goals have been to destroy Hamas and return displaced Israelis to their settlements in the south, near the border with Gaza.

The expansion of the goals was decided in a Security Cabinet meeting, after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told US envoy Amos Hochstein only military action against Hezbollah would enable the return of displaced Israelis to northern communities. He also warned prospects for a halt in fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon were dimming, yet again raising fears of a wider regional conflagration.

Mr Gallant last week said Hamas, whose October 7 attack triggered the war, “no longer exists” as a military formation in Gaza.

Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese group have exchanged near-daily strikes since Hamas’s October 7 attack sparked war in the Gaza Strip, with the Knesset Research and Information Centre calculating that around 68,500 Israelis remain evacuated due to the cross border fire.

Hezbollah officials have said the group would stand down if a Gaza ceasefire was reached, while Israel insists it cannot allow militants to remain in the border area in Lebanon’s south.

It comes amid rising tensions in the cabinet as speculation grows Mr Netanyahu is set to sack Mr Gallant.

Israeli media reports Mr Netanyahu has denied he is preparing to replace Mr Gallant with Gideon Sa’ar, chairman of the New Hope party.

Meanwhile Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has said the Palestinian group has the resources to sustain its fight against Israel, with support from Iran-backed regional allies, nearly a year into the Gaza war.

Sinwar, who last month replaced slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said in a letter to the group’s Yemeni allies that “we have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition”.

Deadly fighting raged on in the besieged Gaza Strip, where medics and rescuers said Monday that Israeli strikes – which the military has not commented on – killed at least two dozen people.

Sinwar, in his letter to Yemen’s Houthis, threatened that Iran-aligned groups in Gaza and elsewhere in the region would “break the enemy’s political will” after more than 11 months of war.

“Our combined efforts with you” and with groups in Lebanon and Iraq “will break this enemy and inflict defeat on it”, Sinwar said.

After months of mediation efforts towards an elusive Gaza truce deal, the United States was working “expeditiously” on a new proposal to bridge the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

“We continue to engage with our partners in the region” including mediators Qatar and Egypt to achieve “a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement”, Mr Miller said.

He noted that Israel’s demand to keep troops on the Gaza-Egypt border and details on the release of captives remained the main sticking points.

The Gaza war has drawn in Iran-backed Hamas allies across the Middle East, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis, whose maritime attacks have disrupted global shipping through vital waterways off Yemen.

On Sunday the rebels claimed a rare missile attack on central Israel which caused no casualties, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn that they would pay “a heavy price for any attempt to harm us”.

In a televised speech, rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Huthi said: “Our operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege on Gaza continue.”

Tensions have surged along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, amid fears that regular exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hamas ally Hezbollah throughout the war could explode into an all-out war.

On Monday Hezbollah claimed “dozens” of attacks on Israeli positions, and Israel’s military said it struck “terrorist” targets in Lebanon.

Mr Miller told reporters: “We have long made clear that we believe a diplomatic solution is the correct way, the only way, to bring calm to the north of Israel and allow Israeli citizens to return to their homes.” He said Israeli officials “have always made clear … that they would ultimately prefer a diplomatic resolution”.

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said Saturday his group has “no intention of going to war”, but if Israel does “unleash” one “there will be large losses on both sides”.

The violence has killed hundreds of mostly fighters in Lebanon, and dozens of civilians and soldiers on the Israeli side.

With AFP