Gallant: Israel must prepare for ‘deterioration’ of security situation in the north

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant cautions that Israel must “take into account the possibility of the [security] situation deteriorating in the north,” amid Hezbollah’s daily attacks from Lebanon.

“If this happens, we will exact a heavy price from Hezbollah and Lebanon, but there will be casualties here as well,” Gallant says during an assessment.

Gallant says Israel is committed to returning some 80,000 displaced Israelis to their homes in northern Israel, but “if this scenario does not happen… through diplomatic means, we will reach a situation where we need to create the security conditions that allow their return.”

“I don’t want to talk about deadlines, and I don’t want to talk about methods, but it will happen,” he vows.

On Gaza, Gallant says, “Hamas is becoming weaker. It doesn’t have supplies, it doesn’t have personnel reserves, it doesn’t have the organizational ability to initiate moves, and it doesn’t have the ability to really control what happens.”

“Hamas’s plans were to fire hundreds of rockets every day into all kinds of areas in the country. It now manages to launch dozens of rockets in a sort of one-off attack at a certain location. I do not underestimate this, it is a very significant thing and we will [deal with this capability] with raids, with airstrikes, it will take time,” he adds.