2024-01-19 05:28:31
Israeli Minister: Prevented a strike against Hezbollah following the October 7 attack
Former Israeli minister and chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot told Israel’s Channel 12 on Thursday that he prevented Israel from pre-emptively attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon in the days following the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Eisenkot, whose youngest son was killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip, last month, said Israel was on the verge of striking Hezbollah even though the group had not yet fired on Israel. Eisenkot added that he convinced officials in the war government to postpone that step.
Eisenkot continued, “I believe that our presence there prevented Israel from committing a grave strategic mistake.”
The Israeli-Lebanese border witnesses an exchange of fire on a daily basis, but it has not reached the point of an all-out war. The wider region is teetering dangerously towards a major escalation of the conflict fueled by the war in Gaza.
Both Hezbollah and Israel have indicated their desire to avoid war, but both say they are prepared to fight if necessary.
Opposition party members Eizenkot and Benny Gantz, who is also a former army chief of staff, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government shortly after the Hamas attack on October 7, after which Israel launched an air, land and sea attack on the Gaza Strip.
Israel pledged to eliminate Hamas after its fighters killed 1,200 people in Israel and took 240 hostages to Gaza, according to an Israeli census.
The Israeli attack led to the death of more than 24,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Ministry of Health there, and approximately 1.9 million people, i.e. 85 percent of the population, were displaced.
A hostage deal reached in November saw about half the detainees released, but Eisenkot said more than 100 hostages remained in captivity and a new deal would be needed to get them back.
Eisenkot added, “It is impossible to return the hostages alive soon without an agreement.”
He added that the war goals of stripping Hamas of power in Gaza and killing those responsible for the October attack “will remain in effect” after a temporary ceasefire.
(Archyde.com)
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