Gallant: Ceasefire in Gaza won’t stop fight against Hezbollah in north

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says the IDF will continue to battle Hezbollah in Lebanon even if Israel reaches a truce in the Gaza Strip.

“I gave clear orders to the forces in both the south and the north, these are two separate sectors. Even if we reach a hostage deal, and I very much hope that we will be able to reach it in the south, it is not bound to what is happening here, unless Hezbollah reaches an agreement [with Israel],” he says to troops during a visit to the Mount Hermon region.

“Even if there is a ceasefire [in Gaza], here we continue to fight and do everything necessary, and this is what brings the results,” Gallant says.

Gallant says Hezbollah and allied terror groups in Lebanon have lost 450 members to IDF strikes, including 15 brigade-level commanders and three at the division level: “It is a very, very significant thing and the results are visible,” he says.

The defense minister says, “These are critical days” and that “our enemy only understands force.”

“Things can happen. We do not aspire to it. We are ready for anything, but we are prepared for the fact that if they come to attack us, or if they try to harm us, or if they do not allow us to return our citizens safely to their homes — we will act,” Gallant adds.