Katz says ‘many challenges still lie ahead’ after end of intensive fighting in Gaza

Speaking at an IDF cadets graduation ceremony, Defense Minister Israel Katz says “many challenges still lie ahead” as the intensive fighting in Gaza has ended with the ongoing ceasefire.

“The intensive fighting in the Gaza Strip is expected, indeed, to end, but many challenges still lie ahead of us on several fronts, and we will not cease to act until we achieve them,” he says at the officers’ school in southern Israel, known as Bahad 1.

“We will not stop until we realize the overarching goals we set before us: the demilitarization of Gaza and the dismantling of Hamas’s weapons, along with the complete destruction of the terror tunnels,” Katz says.

Katz says Israel will “insist on full implementation of the agreement, and will not stop until we return home, for burial in Israel, all the remaining fallen hostages, including commanders and soldiers.”

On the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, Katz warns that Israel has not had “the final word.”

“The Houthis will pay a heavy price for their attempts to strike the Israeli home front over the past two years. We have not said the last word.”