As the war in the Gaza Strip of Palestine enters its 11th month, Israel has decided to expand its war objectives to include the return of residents in the northern border area with Lebanon.
On the 17th (local time), according to major foreign media such as Reuters and AFP, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced, "The political-security cabinet has renewed the war objectives to include safely returning northern residents to their homes."
This means allowing residents of the northern border area, who had evacuated due to attacks by Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed faction and proxy of Iran, since the outbreak of the Gaza war, to return to their homes. This decision was approved at a security cabinet meeting attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Until now, Israel's war objectives have focused on rescuing hostages held by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas and eliminating Hamas.
Hezbollah has attacked the northern border area of Israel with rockets and missiles since October 8 of last year, just one day after the war broke out due to Hamas's surprise attack on Israel, expressing support and solidarity with Hamas. Israel, in turn, has carried out retaliatory airstrikes on key Hezbollah facilities throughout Lebanon using fighter jets and drones.
As a result, tens of thousands of residents living in villages in the northern border area with Lebanon had to evacuate and still have not been able to return to their hometowns.
Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant also argued that the war objectives should be expanded to ensure the safe return of northern residents.
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