IDF Security Zones in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria ‘Permanent,’ Official Says

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has repeatedly threatened to reduce Gaza’s territory due to the Hamas terrorist organization’s refusal to release the hostages.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS

Israel’s Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fox said on Wednesday that the Israeli army would maintain a permanent security presence in Gaza, Southern Lebanon and Syria.

“Unequivocally, the security zones in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria are permanent zones,” Fox said in an interview with Galey Israel radio.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for comment.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has repeatedly threatened to reduce Gaza’s territory due to the Hamas terrorist organization’s refusal to release the hostages, including on Wednesday, when he warned that “more and more territory will be integrated into Israel’s defense formation.”

These plans are “already prepared and approved,” said Katz in a message to Gaza’s residents, adding, “Hamas is putting your lives at risk, causing you to lose your homes.”

He called on them to “demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages,” adding that “this is the only way to stop the war.”

Earlier this month, Katz announced that the Israel Defense Forces will remain at five outposts in Southern Lebanon “indefinitely,” despite the launch of talks with Beirut over the disputed international border.

“This is intended to protect the residents of the north, regardless of any future negotiations over disputed border points,” Katz’s office stated.

Days earlier, the defense minister reiterated his commitment to the IDF staying in Syrian territory “indefinitely” to protect the northern border.

“Every morning when [Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa] opens his eyes in the presidential palace in Damascus, he will see the IDF watching him from the heights of the Hermon and will remember that we are here, in all security areas in southern Syria,” said Katz on March 11.

“We are here to protect the residents of the Golan and the Galilee from any threat posed by him and his jihadi associates,” added the minister.

Israeli officials have repeatedly vowed to prevent another attack similar to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre from the Gaza Strip, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 captive.

On Wednesday night, the IDF announced that a two-division exercise was underway on the northern border with Lebanon, in cooperation with the Israeli Air Force, Navy, Israel Police, Israel Fire and Rescue Services, Magen David Adom and civilian security defense teams.

The drill “simulates complex scenarios of various types in defense and offense,” the IDF stated, adding: “It also highlights the strengthening of defense in communities near the border and a very wide range of integrated scenarios with all security bodies operating in the area.”

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