Netanyahu says Israel will keep striking Hezbollah and Hamas as necessary

Israel will keep striking Hezbollah and Hamas over ceasefire violations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“We continue to strike terrorism on several fronts,” he says. “This weekend the IDF struck in Lebanon, and we will continue to do whatever is necessary to prevent Hezbollah from reestablishing its capacity to threaten us.”

The Israeli Air Force launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah targets across Lebanon on Saturday afternoon, and separately said it killed two members of the terror group in drone strikes in the country’s south.

Netanyahu says that Israel was pursuing a similar strategy in the Gaza Strip.

“Since the ceasefire,” he continues, “Hamas has not stopped violating it, and we are acting accordingly. There were several attempts by them to infiltrate our territory beyond the Yellow Line and harm our soldiers. We thwarted these forcefully, and we responded and exacted a very heavy price. Many terrorists were eliminated, and terrorists were also captured from the tunnels in Rafah.”

Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on Israeli troops in the Strip’s south. According to Netanyahu’s office, five senior Hamas officials were killed in the strikes.

Netanyahu also pushes back on criticism that critical decisions on Gaza were going through Washington.

“All the talk that ‘we must obtain approval’ from this or that party is simply a complete lie,” he insists. “We act without relying on anyone. The immediate actions to thwart attacks are carried out automatically by the IDF. As for the responses — they go through the defense minister and eventually come to me, and we decide independently of any external actor, as it should be.”

“Israel is responsible for its own security.”