Minister in the Israeli Military Council and head of the “National Camp” coalition, Benny Gantz, confirmed that the Israeli army will enter the city of Rafah, and at the same time called for the formation of an American-led regional alliance against Iran.
Gantz said, during a press conference in the Sderot settlement in the Gaza Strip, today, Wednesday, that the occupation army will enter the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and that it will return to the city of Khan Yunis in the center of the Strip, where the occupation army had announced its withdrawal from it a few days ago.
In the context of reassuring the home front in Israel, Gantz indicated that fighting is continuing in the Gaza Strip to varying degrees according to necessity and need, according to him.
Yesterday, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), broadcast footage of an ambush that befell an Israeli military squad in the Zinna area in Khan Yunis. The publication of the video sparked many comments within Israeli society.
Exchange deal
Within the framework of the truce negotiations, Gantz said that the Israeli negotiating team is making a great effort to reach a truce agreement with the Hamas movement, in addition to military pressure in the field.
The families of the prisoners held by the resistance accuse the government of Benjamin Netanyahu of not being serious about the negotiations. A few days ago, it sent a letter to a number of ministers, including Gantz, in which they demanded that Netanyahu not be allowed to undermine the prisoner deal, and that they not allow Finance Minister Yitzel Smotrich and Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to influence the negotiations. Netanyahu to torpedo efforts to reach the deal on the table, according to the Israeli Kan channel.
Hezbollah and Iran
Gans, who is ahead of Netanyahu in opinion polls if elections are held, also touched on the problem facing the residents of northern Israel, as they abandoned their homes after the start of bombing operations between Hezbollah and the occupation army in the wake of the Al-Aqsa flood on October 7, where he stressed that The government will return “the citizens of the North to their homes, whatever the cost.”
Iran was present in Gantz’s speech, where he called for building an American-led regional alliance against Iran.
Israel fears an Iranian response to the bombing of a building belonging to the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, a few days ago, in which a commander of the Iranian Quds Force was killed.
Recruitment
Regarding the issue of conscription, which occupies a large space within Israeli society and threatens to disintegrate Netanyahu’s government, Gantz stressed the necessity of imposing sanctions on “those who choose to renounce military service.”
Gans and Minister in the War Council, Gadi Eisenkot, had presented a plan to recruit the Haredim into the army, conditioning their support for the government’s efforts to extend the period of military service and reserve, on agreeing to gradually increase the number of Israelis being recruited in the next decade.
The Haredim refuse to be conscripted into the army, and consider their Torah to be their profession, which allows them to devote themselves to study and receive financial aid from the state.
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2024-04-10 18:10:13
