The Israeli Defense Minister, Joav Gallant, said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was afraid to confront Hezbollah and believe that it would lead to the destruction of Tel Aviv.
Gallent also added – in an interview with the 12th Israeli Channel – that he met Netanyahu after the October 7, 2023 attack, and that the latter informed him of his fear of the killing of thousands of Israeli soldiers in Gaza if it was invaded by land.
Gallant, who was dismissed by Netanyahu on the fifth of last November and appointed Israel Katz to succeed him, said that Netanyahu was afraid that Hezbollah would destroy Tel Aviv.
He explained: “The Prime Minister showed me the buildings from the window and said to me: Do you see it? All this will be destroyed as a result of Hezbollah’s capabilities, after we hit them, they will destroy everything you see.”
He added that Netanyahu “talked about all the buildings that he sees from the window of his office on the second or third floor of the office in Tel Aviv.”
On November 27, 2024, a ceasefire agreement ended a mutual bombing between the Israeli occupation army and Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, and turned into a widespread war on September 23, in which Hezbollah missiles reached the center of Tel Aviv.
Regarding the decision to invade the Gaza Strip, Gallant said: “The Prime Minister told me: We will witness thousands of deaths in the maneuvering in Gaza (started October 27, 2023). If we did not activate it after they killed a thousand citizens and kidnapped dozens?
He added: “Netanyahu’s justification was that the (Islamic Resistance Movement) Hamas would use the kidnappers as human shields, but I told him: We share with Hamas in only one thing, which is that we want to protect the kidnappers.”
On January 19, a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Israel began in force, including 3 stages, each of which lasts 42 days, and during the first phase, negotiations for the start of the second and third, through Egypt and Qatar and support the United States.
In total, Palestinian factions have released Gaza from January 19 to last Saturday, in 4 installments for 13 Israeli prisoners, in addition to 5 Thai outside the deal.
The factions remain for 20 Israeli prisoners, who will be released soon, within the first stage, to be the total according to the agreement 33 prisoners.
On the other hand, Israel has released the agreement since 583 Palestinian prisoners in 4 batches, in the framework of the first stage of the agreement.
With American support, Israel committed between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, genocide in Gaza that left more than 159,000 martyrs and wounded Palestinians, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing.
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