Netanyahu Announces New War Goals including Returning Residents to Northern Israel

Tel Aviv, MINA – Israel’s security cabinet has expanded its war objectives to include the “safe return of the residents of the north of Israel to their homes”, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a Tuesday statement, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Israel’s new war goal, approved during an overnight meeting of the prime minister’s security cabinet, joins three previously stated “conditions for ending the war”, as outlined by Netanyahu’s office in June.

These were the “destruction of Hamas military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel”.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah opened a second war front with Israel in solidarity with the people of Gaza a day after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Escalating cross-border attacks in the months since have seen many northern Israeli communities evacuated.

On Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told US envoy Amos Hochstein the only way to return residents evacuated from northern Israel is through military action.

“The possibility for an agreement is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas, and refuses to end the conflict,” a statement from Gallant’s office said. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)