Netanyahu said during the weekly Israeli Cabinet meeting on Sunday, “Israel is a sovereign state. Our military decisions are made according to our own calculations.”
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that US President Joe Biden convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon after the Hamas attack on October 7, according to a report by the American Wall Street Journal.
American fear
The newspaper revealed in its report that Biden warned Netanyahu that “such an attack could spark a broader regional war.”
The Wall Street Journal said that the US President urged the Israeli Prime Minister to stop the pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, which Israel was planning days after the surprise attack launched by Hamas.
Officials said that Israel had intelligence, which the United States considered unreliable, that Hezbollah forces were preparing to cross the border into Israel “as part of a multi-pronged attack.”
This pushed some of the most hard-line Israeli officials “to the brink of the abyss,” as the Wall Street Journal put it.
Last October, Biden met with Netanyahu, amid attempts by both governments to present a “strong, publicly united front,” in the wake of attacks launched by Hamas.
In a related context, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy said that his forces “still have a lot to do in the Gaza Strip.”
Helvi made statements while assessing the situation of his forces in the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
In his assessment of the performance of the combat forces from the 98th Division and the Givati Brigade, Helvi said that “the situation in Khan Yunis is impressive,” but stressed that “we still have a lot of work to do” in Gaza.
Israeli army deaths
The Israeli army announced on Sunday that the number of its dead in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war had reached 152 soldiers, following the killing of nine soldiers on Saturday, in one of the heaviest daily losses it has suffered since the start of its ground attack on the Palestinian Strip.
The army said in a statement that nine of its soldiers were killed on Saturday in battles in the Gaza Strip.
This daily toll is one of the largest since the start of the ground attack on the Gaza Strip on October 27.
On the other hand, the Hamas Ministry of Health announced on Saturday evening that more than 200 Palestinians were killed within 24 hours in Israeli army operations in the Gaza Strip.
The ministry said that the total death toll in the Gaza Strip since the war between Israel and Hamas began had risen to 20,258 dead and 53,688 wounded.
The war broke out following an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas fighters after they stormed the border between Gaza and southern Israel. The Hamas attack led to the killing of about 1,140 Israelis and the kidnapping of 250 people, 129 of whom are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hebrew state.
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2023-12-24 10:38:53
