Gallant: Hezbollah See Whats Happening In Gaza, They Know We Can Copy-Paste To Beirut

NEW YORK (VINnews) — In a candid interview with the Wall Street Journal, Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant said that the scale and severity of the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists had shaken Israelis’ sense of security and profoundly altered the way they view the world around them.

“October 7 was the bloodiest day for Jewish people since 1945,” Gallant told the WSJ. “The world needs to understand. This is different.”

The gravity of the threat, Gallant says, explains the ferocity of Israel’s response and its determination not only to destroy Hamas, but also to act with enough force to deter other potential adversaries allied with Tehran, including Hezbollah.

In the interview Gallant defended Israel’s conduct of the war and said that the war was not just local in nature but had regional repercussions.

“My basic view: We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy,” Gallant said. “Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it.”

While Israel’s priority isn’t to get entangled in a war with Hezbollah, Gallant warns that “80,000 people need to be able to go back to their homes safely,” and so if all else fails, “we are willing to sacrifice.”

“They see what is happening in Gaza,” he says. “They know we can copy-paste to Beirut.”

After demands by the US to do more “to avoid civilian casualties” in Gaza, and with US Secretary Of State Blinken poised to arrive in the Middle East for a series of diplomatic visits, Gallant stressed that Israel’s war with Hamas is entering a new phase with “different types of special operations.” However Gallant was not optimisitc about a swift end to the war and emphasized that it “will last for a longer time” until Israel has destroyed Hamas, ended its control of Gaza and released the hostages.

Gallant, a senior member of Israel’s war cabinet, also spoke about how he envisages the future of Gaza, a subject which has been hotly debated in Israel. As opposed to demands by right-wing elements to establish settlements in Gaza and reoccupy the region, Gallant maintained that Palestinian civil self-governance with Israeli military freedom- a situation similar to that which exists in the Palestinian Authority – could allow for a tenable security situation in Gaza. Additionally a multinational task force could oversee the “rehabilitation” of Gaza, in which 70% of the buildings have been destroyed in the current war.

“We’re close to the next phase in the north, including Gaza City,” where Israeli troops have largely established control, at least above ground, Gallant said. Israeli officers say they are still working to destroy a large network of underground tunnels used by Hamas fighters.

The main fighting is now taking place in the central and southern Gaza strip, where large civilian populations make progress slower and more complicated. The responsibility of operating on an extremely crowded battlefield was addressed by Gallant, who said that “We need to take into consideration the huge number of civilians. It will take some time, but we aren’t going to give up.”

Israeli officials said the shift to lower-intensity operations would be gradual and would happen at different times in different parts of Gaza. The most delicate part of the operation will be in Rafah next to the Egyptian border, where a sizable civilian population is buttressed by terrorists who are being resupplied via tunnels under the Egyptian border.