Israeli Cabinet minister says he prevented strike on Hezbollah in days after Hamas attack
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Israeli Cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot (with sunglasses) being consoled by Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Dec 8 at the funeral of Mr Eisenkot's son, who was killed in northern Gaza during a ground operation.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JERUSALEM – Israeli Cabinet minister and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot told Israel’s Channel 12 on Jan 18 that he prevented Israel from pre-emptively attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon in the days after Hamas’ deadly Oct 7 onslaught on southern Israel.
Mr Eizenkot, whose youngest son was killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip in December,
“I think our presence there prevented Israel from making a grave strategic mistake,” he said.
The Israel-Lebanon frontier has seen daily fighting but has stopped short of an all-out war. The wider region teeters dangerously towards a major escalation of the conflict ignited by the Gaza war.
Both Israel and Hezbollah have signalled that they want to avoid war, but both say they are ready to fight if necessary.
Mr Eizenkot and former army chief Benny Gantz, both opposition party members, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government shortly after the Oct 7 incursion by Palestinian militant group Hamas. The attack prompted an Israeli air, ground and sea offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas after its fighters killed 1,200 people in Israel and dragged 240 more back to Gaza as hostages, according to an Israeli tally.
Some 24,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct 7, according to the Health Ministry there, and around 1.9 million, or 85 per cent of the population, have been displaced.
Hamas, designated as a terrorist group by the United States and other Western countries, is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
A November hostage deal saw around half the hostages released, but Mr Eisenkot said the more than 100 who remain in captivity are scattered throughout the enclave and a renewed deal would be required to bring them home.
“It’s impossible to retrieve the hostages alive soon without a deal,” he said. He said the war’s aims of stripping Hamas of power in Gaza and killing those responsible for the Oct 7 attack would “still be valid” after a temporary ceasefire. REUTERS
