Israel defence minister Katz said that the country won’t withdraw from land seized in Lebanon as the interim deal between the United States and Iran is to be signed on Friday.
Israel Katz’s remarks were the first official Israeli comments after the announcement of the interim deal.
Katz said Israel plans to stay “indefinitely” in lands it holds in Lebanon, as well as Syria and the Gaza Strip. Iran has tied the interim deal over the war to halting Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Katz also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with “great force.”
Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, on Monday denounced the deal between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East war, including in Lebanon, insisting his country was not bound by it.
"Trump's agreement does not bind us... We are not party to this agreement. It does not safeguard our security," Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel.
"We must not settle for anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah. We must not withdraw from a single inch of territory that our soldiers have captured and cleared of terrorist infrastructure," he said.
Over the past two and a half years, Israel has taken control of areas in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria amounting to 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of territory — an area that is slightly smaller than New York City.
With inputs from AP from AFP
