Katz also said Israeli forces had been ordered to demolish homes in Lebanese villages along the border to neutralise threats to Israeli communities. He said the method would follow the one used in the war against Hamas in Gaza, where the Israeli military destroyed buildings and forced the evacuation of areas to create security zones inside the territory.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
Israel’s military campaign in response killed more than 71,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry. And the Israeli military has continued to carry out attacks there despite a ceasefire that came into force five months ago.
The latest escalation in the decades-long conflict between Hezbollah and Israel started when the group fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for the killing of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and in response to near-daily Israeli attacks on Lebanon despite a ceasefire that had been agreed on November 2024.
Lebanon’s government has vowed to disarm Hezbollah, which was created in the 1980s in response to Israel’s occupation of Lebanon during the 15-year Lebanese civil war. But, so far, the group has refused to discuss the future of its weapons.
President Aoun, a former army chief, had ruled out using force, warning that this could exacerbate sectarian divisions and lead to violence.