Katz: Ceasefire with Hezbollah is temporary, IDF not withdrawing from positions in Lebanon

Defense Minister Israel Katz stresses that the 10-day Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire that began at midnight is “temporary,” that the IDF is not withdrawing from territory in Lebanon and that Israel’s remaining missions in that country will be completed, by force if necessary.

“The IDF holds and will continue to hold all the areas it has cleared and captured,” says Katz in a statement. “The ground maneuver into Lebanon and the strikes against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon have achieved many accomplishments, but they have not yet been completed.”

“We are inside Lebanon in the midst of a war against Hezbollah, with a temporary freeze and a 10-day ceasefire,” Katz says of the agreement announced on Thursday afternoon.

“The goal we defined — dismantling Hezbollah’s weapons through military or diplomatic means — was and remains the objective of the campaign,” he says, “to which we are committed. At present, a significant diplomatic lever has also been created through the direct involvement of the US president and a commitment to this goal, while applying pressure on the Lebanese government.”

Trump has touted direct talks between Lebanon and Israel in the wake of the ceasefire.

Katz boasts that over 1,700 Hezbollah fighters have been killed — noting somewhat awkwardly that the figure is more than twice the tally of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which was widely seen as falling short of its goals — and that the buffer zone along the border has been cleared of both Hezbollah operatives and residents.

“It will continue to be cleared of terrorist infrastructure, including the destruction of houses in Lebanese border villages that had effectively become terrorist outposts,” he says.

He acknowledges that the new security zone in south Lebanon that stretches up to the Litani River still has enemy fighters and weapons in it, and says it will be cleared through a diplomatic arrangement or by returning to fighting.

“If hostilities resume, any residents who return to the security zone will have to evacuate in order to allow the mission to be completed,” he says, stressing that Israel will also strike Hezbollah targets north of the Litani River.