![Israel must continue to be able to deter Hezbollah, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stressed on Wednesday, speaking amid efforts to reach a ceasefire with Iran's Lebanese terrorist proxy. "We need to keep the freedom to act if there will be violations. And we will have to act in time, before the problem will grow," the minister told a gathering of nearly 100 foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported. A deal to end more than a year of fighting on the northern border must be durable, Sa'ar said, saying Jerusalem “would like to reach an agreement that will stand the test of time." He added that a ceasefire would be an "opportunity" for Lebanon to regain its sovereignty after the Israeli military severely degraded the Iranian-backed group in recent months. He called for the Lebanese Armed Forces to be strengthened and urged the international community to invest more in the economically devastated country, which is drowning in debt following years of mismanagement and corruption. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also emphasized on Wednesday the necessity for Jerusalem to be able to act against any Hezbollah threats that may arise after a ceasefire deal is implemented. “The condition for any political settlement in Lebanon is the preservation of the intelligence capability and the preservation of the [IDF’s] right to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah,” Katz said. Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein remained in Beirut for a second day on Wednesday to discuss "technical details" of an American ceasefire proposal with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement. President Joe Biden's point man in the Land of the Cedars announced he would travel to Israel on Wednesday night, speaking after he made "additional progress" in a second meeting with Berri. Hochstein was scheduled to meet with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer shortly after his arrival, followed by a tête-à-tête with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the following day. “The meeting today built on the meeting yesterday, and made additional progress,” Hochstein said. “So I will travel from here in a couple hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.” The Biden envoy added that he will work with the incoming Trump administration on ceasefire efforts, saying that he has kept the president-elect's transition team informed of progress. Hochstein described as "very productive" his meetings with Lebanese officials on Tuesday. “We have a real opportunity to end the conflict, and now is the moment to decide. We are committed to doing everything we can to work with Lebanon and Israel to end this conflict,” Hochstein said at a press conference on Tuesday. Hochstein also met on Tuesday with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and he was scheduled to meet with Lebanese Armed Forces commander Gen. Joseph Aoun. Mikati emphasized that Lebanon’s primary objectives are achieving a ceasefire and safeguarding its sovereignty. He highlighted the need to implement international resolutions and bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces in the southern part of the country. Lebanon delivered its written response to the latest U.S. proposal on Monday. According to Ali Hassan Khalil, an aide to Berri, the response included “comments” that were “presented in a positive atmosphere.” He did not provide details on the nature of the comments, saying only that they “affirm the precise adherence to [U.N. Security Council] Resolution 1701 with all its provisions,” according to Reuters. Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday that the terrorist group had "read the ceasefire proposal. "We have our comments, and Nabih Berri has comments, and ours and the Lebanese government's comments are, Inshallah ['God willing'], identical," Qassem said. "We have decided not to discuss these ceasefire proposals or our comments in the media. All I will say is that Israeli is trying to obtain through negotiations what it couldn't through war." The terrorist leader vowed to “continue our efforts on the ground, whether the negotiations succeed or not. “We are confronting a savage enemy, and we will remain on the ground, no matter the cost, as we will also increase the cost for the enemy. We are facing Israeli human monsters supported by American human monsters,” threatened Qassem. Disarm and retreat Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, stipulated that Hezbollah must disarm and retreat north of the Litani River, but was never enforced. The Litani lies some 20 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Its enforcement, along with Israeli freedom of operation in Lebanon should Hezbollah violate the terms of a ceasefire agreement, are the key sticking points in the current negotiations. Netanyahu emphasized during a speech in the Knesset plenum on Monday that Israel will not allow Hezbollah to “return to the state it was in on Oct. 6, 2023. “We will be required, in order to ensure our security in the north, to systematically carry out operations—not only against Hezbollah’s attacks, which could come. Even if there is a ceasefire, nobody can guarantee it will hold. So it’s not only our reaction, a preventive reaction, a reaction in the wake of attack but also the capacity to prevent Hezbollah from strengthening,” he said. Hezbollah has launched some 16,000 rockets, missiles and drones from Lebanon at Israel since joining the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the Gaza-based terrorist group’s massacre in southern Israel. More than 60,000 residents of northern Israel remain internally displaced due to the ongoing rocket and drone attacks from Lebanon. Seventy-six people in northern Israel have been killed by Hezbollah cross-border rocket, missile and drone attacks since the start of the war, including 31 soldiers and six foreign citizens, according to the latest data provided by the Prime Minister’s Office, updated on Sunday. In addition, 729 people have been wounded, including 497 civilians and 232 soldiers. Of these, 29 civilians and 37 soldiers were severely injured; 63 civilians and 38 soldiers were moderately injured and 405 civilians and 157 soldiers were lightly injured. Hezbollah’s leadership has been left in tatters following a series of targeted killings by Israel, including that of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Sept. 27. This was preceded by Israeli sabotage of Hezbollah communication devices that killed 39 people and wounded more than 3,400 members of the terrorist group. Israel has been waging a devastating aerial campaign against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon, including its stronghold of Dahieh south of Beirut. According to Israeli estimates, the terrorist group has lost most of its arsenal to the ongoing strikes. Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in late October that Hezbollah had lost an estimated 80%-plus of its long-range rockets since the start of the war. Israel also continues to battle Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The terrorist group still holds 101 hostages in the Strip, 97 of whom were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Many of the captives are believed to be dead. Brazil summit Meanwhile, G20 leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for a summit put out a joint statement on Monday calling for “comprehensive” ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. The leaders of the world’s biggest economies called for U.S. proposals to end fighting in Gaza and free the hostages, and one for Lebanon “that enables citizens to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line.” The 13-point U.S. proposal presented to Lebanese officials on Nov. 14 includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon would redeploy its troops along the border. The proposal also calls for Moscow to prevent Hezbollah from resupplying itself via Syrian land routes. Hezbollah would retreat north of the Litani River, with the border area then being under control of the Lebanese Armed Forces, overseen by the United States and Britain. Israeli officials are emphasizing, however, that the Israel Defense Forces must retain freedom of operation in Lebanon to thwart attempts by Hezbollah to violate the agreement and rearm and reestablish itself. A senior Israeli diplomatic official told Israel Hayom on Saturday that the IDF will retain operational freedom to respond to any security threats from across the northern border, regardless of any diplomatic arrangements. However, a source close to Hezbollah told The Washington Post that the group’s “condition for progress remains clear: Israel must be prohibited from conducting operations within Lebanese territory.” Berri emphasized at the time that any ceasefire agreement must not include the ability for Israel to attack by land, sea or air, Channel 12 reported. “Otherwise, what’s the purpose of an agreement?” he remarked. Another sticking point is Lebanon’s objection to the United Kingdom and Germany monitoring the implementation of U.N. Resolution 1701. Beirut reportedly favors the United States and France. If the ceasefire efforts fail, there are plans in the works to expand ground operations in Lebanon, an Israeli military official told the Post. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer discussed the proposal with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during a visit to his Florida estate earlier this month, as well as with senior Biden administration officials in Washington. Dermer also traveled to Russia to discuss the ceasefire proposal. Tehran is telling its Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah that it supports ending the war against Israel, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Ali Larijani, senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, met with senior Lebanese officials in Beirut on Nov. 15 to discuss the matter. Two Iranians affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told the Times that Larijani conveyed messages to Hezbollah from Khamenei that he supported the end of the war and that the regime would assist with rebuilding the terrorist group’s forces and recovering from the war.](https://jewishwebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Gideon-Saar-1320x880-2-218x150.jpg "Sa’ar: Israel must be free to act against Hezbollah truce violations")
One hundred and fourteen days into Israel’s war against Hamas, rocket sirens continue to sound in evacuated southern Israel towns as fierce fighting continues in Hamas’s southern Gaza stronghold of Khan Younis.
While some of the 217,000 Israelis evacuated from 105 communities in the north and south of Israel since Oct. 7, 2023 have started returning to their homes, most still live in temporary accommodations largely subsidized by the state.
About 4,000 evacuees have returned to Ashkelon, at which Hamas has fired 1,380 rockets since Oct. 7. Nearly 200 hit the city, impacting 487 sites. While rocket-fire from the Strip has fallen dramatically since the start of the war, according to Ashkelon mayor Tomer Glam much more is needed.
“On Oct. 7, we took a huge hit. The goal is now to completely eliminate Hamas and Jihad Islamic. After 110 days of war, we can’t yet picture the end,” said Glam at the Israeli Defense and Security Forum (IDSF) in Ashkelon on Thursday.
Although life is almost completely back to normal in Ashkelon, with over 90% of the education system operational, Glam told JNS that there are still security gaps to be addressed.
“We work in full coordination with the defense establishment and the government of Israel. We sometimes have differences of opinion but we continue to work symbiotically for the residents of Israel to benefit from full security,” he said.
“We must destroy all terror groups that threaten the lives of innocents. If not, massacres like Oct. 7 may happen again,” he added.
In Sderot, some 30,000 residents were evacuated and most have yet to return, as Sderot’s mayor Alon Davidi earlier this month rejected the Israeli government’s offer to begin resettling the population starting Feb. 4.
“If we don’t persist in this war and defeat our enemy, it will send the message that the state of Israel kneels in front of monsters…. We must do more,” said Davidi at the IDSF.
In response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, the IDF on Oct. 27 launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, with the stated goals of destroying the terrorist group as a military and political entity in the enclave.
“The IDF destroyed Hamas’s terror infrastructure in the northern part of Gaza. Our forces are now attacking and systematically destroying Hamas’s capabilities in Khan Younis while moving above ground and underground to reach Hamas’s leadership and release the hostages,” IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, the founder and chairman of IDSF, told JNS.
The terrorist group slaughtered 1,200 people on Oct. 7, and wounded thousands more. It also kidnapped more than 240 people. Of these, 110 have been freed so far, while 136 are believed to still be in Gaza.
According to Avivi, while the IDF has made steady progress against Hamas, more remains to be done.
“In the central part of Gaza, Israeli forces managed to destroy a few positions but have not yet seized full control. The IDF is also currently not in control of Rafah City. Without full control, it is impossible to cut off Hamas logistically,” he added.
It is now believed that the Islamist group built between 350 and 450 miles of subterranean terror infrastructure in Gaza, of which the IDF has damaged or rendered inoperable 20% to 40%, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing Israeli and U.S. officials.
Last month, the Israeli military began construction on an approximately half-mile-wide buffer zone along the entire 37-mile Gaza border, according to Hebrew media. The buffer is located on the Gaza side of the border, and only IDF personnel will be allowed to enter.
However, the buffer zone is more of a tactical than a strategic security measure, according to Avivi.
“Beyond a buffer zone, to ensure the security of residents of the south, Israel must control the border between Gaza and Egypt and what goes in. This also means long-term complete freedom of operation inside Gaza, like in Judea and Samaria,” he said.
“The IDF must be able to operate every day, everywhere, in every city and every town to apprehend terrorist cells building capabilities,” he explained.
IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Yosef Kuperwasser, senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and at Misgav institute, told JNS that a buffer zone is still essential to prevent future infiltrations.
“We are establishing a perimeter in which we will be deployed so that no one will be able to cross over and conduct another massacre. It might not prevent Hamas from launching rockets but it will make it much more difficult for them to penetrate Israel either above ground or underground in the way they did on Oct. 7,” Kuperwasser told JNS.
“Defeating Hamas in Gaza remains the most effective way to ensure the safe return of the residents of the south to their towns and villages,” he added.
According to analysts, along with defeating Hamas, maintaining military control inside Gaza remains the only valid option in creating better conditions for the return of Israel’s southern residents to their homes.