Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would increase its strikes on Hezbollah in response to its daily attacks on northern Israel, including amid a potential temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“We are planning to increase the firepower against Hezbollah, which is unable to find replacements for the commanders we are eliminating,” Gallant said Sunday during a visit to the IDF Northern Command headquarters in Safed.
The defense minister emphasized that strikes on Hezbollah would continue even if Israel signed a hostage deal with Hamas, which would see a pause in fighting in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing the hostages held in the Strip.
“In the event of a temporary truce in Gaza, we will increase the fire in the north, and will continue until the full withdrawal of Hezbollah [from the border] and the return of the residents to their homes,” he said, referring to some 80,000 Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks.
“The goal is simple — to push Hezbollah back to where it should be. Either by an agreement or by force,” Gallant added.
Earlier in the day, the IDF said it struck a Hezbollah cell that was spotted coming out of a building known to be used by the terror group in the south Lebanon town of Blida.
Another two buildings were struck by fighter jets in the same area, the IDF added.
The IDF also said that it had earlier intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that entered Israeli airspace from Lebanon, in the Galilee panhandle.
It also shelled rocket launch sites in south Lebanon following attacks on Mount Dov, Kiryat Shmona, Menara and Malkia.
Hezbollah said that four of its terrorists were killed in the Israeli strikes on Sunday, bringing the group’s death toll since the beginning of the war in Gaza to 214.
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