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(JNS)
Israel’s Security Cabinet is reportedly set to approve on Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to make the return home of the country’s northern residents a formal war goal.
In a statement on Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that the goal “is agreed upon by all Cabinet members.”
Netanyahu has stated in the past that the safe return of some 60,000 residents evacuated from towns and villages along Israel’s border with Lebanon due to ongoing attacks by Hezbollah is a national goal, but has not yet made it an official government policy.
The premier was cited by Israel’s Channel 12 on Friday as saying that, “The situation in the north cannot continue. We must change the equation and we must bring back the residents.”
Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah has stated on more than one occasion that the Iranian proxy will halt its fire only if a truce is reached in the Strip.
Senior officials in Jerusalem, have noted that Israel may have no choice but to launch a full-scale ground invasion into Lebanon to create a security barrier for Israel’s north, which would allow the safe return of displaced Israelis.
Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein is set to arrive in Israel on Monday. Hebrew media reported that the purpose of the visit is to prevent an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Shi’ite terror group has joined Hamas’s war efforts since Oct. 7, launching barrages of rockets and drones into Israeli territory, killing Israeli soldiers and civilians and causing massive damage to property in the north.
Tensions between the warring sides have reached seething levels in recent weeks, with the Israeli Air Force reportedly destroying thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Southern Lebanon in late August.
The terrorist organization subsequently fired more than 200 projectiles into Israel. Out of the 230 rockets and 20 UAVs that crossed into Israeli territory, 90% “were launched from the heart of civilian areas,” according to the military. Nearly all of the launchers were positioned near mosques, schools, gas stations and U.N. sites.
The escalation of cross-border fire began after a Hezbollah strike murdered 12 Israeli children of the Druze community in the Golan Heights on July 27.
Israel responded three days later with the assassination of Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah military commander, in southern Beirut.
