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Former war cabinet member: Israel must shift military focus to Lebanon

2024-09-09 08:57:51, Kosova & Bota CNA
Former war cabinet member: Israel must shift military focus to Lebanon
Former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz. Source, Reuters

Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz has said that Israel must shift its focus to Hezbollah on the Lebanese border, warning that "we are late at this point."

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group, have traded cross-border attacks almost daily in the past year.

The militant group claims it is acting in solidarity with its Palestinian ally, Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

"We have enough forces to deal with Gaza and we need to concentrate on what is happening in the north," Gantz said, speaking in Washington at a Middle East forum.

According to him, the main problem lies in Iran and its networks.

"The time for the north has come and I believe we are late at this point," said the former army chief.

Gantz believes that Israel made a mistake when it displaced residents from the northern part of the state, following the start of hostilities with Hezbollah, fueled by the war that began in Gaza on October 7 last year.

"In Gaza, we have reached the decisive point of the campaign", he said.

"We can do whatever we want in Gaza."

"We should aim to reach an agreement for the release of the hostages, but if we cannot reach it within days or weeks, we should aim for the north", he said.

Gantz left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in June because it did not have a plan for Gaza after the war ends.

The war in Gaza has been fueled by attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel in October, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages.

Israel's retaliatory attacks in Gaza have left more than 40,000 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The United Nations estimates that the majority of those killed are women and children./ REL





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