Netanyahu vows to disarm Hamas, urges Lebanon to rein in Hezbollah

In a tone both defiant and deliberate, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday renewed his vow to disarm Hamas and demilitarise the Gaza Strip, asserting that his government would continue pursuing militant remnants despite a fragile ceasefire that has largely quieted nearly two years of bloodshed.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu painted a picture of a nation still at war with shadows — militant cells he said remain “embedded” in parts of Gaza even after months of sweeping military operations.

“Some Hamas cells remain active in areas under our control — in Rafah, in Khan Younis — and we are systematically eliminating them,” he told ministers, according to a report by Xinhua News Agency. “Disarming Hamas and demilitarising the Gaza Strip is our guiding principle. It is a goal I have agreed upon with President Trump. If it cannot be achieved one way, it will be achieved another.”

Netanyahu’s words came wrapped in both determination and defiance. Even as Washington presses for the preservation of a tenuous ceasefire, he signalled that Israel would act unilaterally if it deemed fit, vowing to protect its troops still stationed inside Gaza.

“We will notify our US allies of our actions,” he said pointedly, “but we will not ask their permission.”

He added that Israel “will not compromise its supreme security responsibility,” underlining a stance that has become a political cornerstone of his leadership.

The remarks came amid renewed unease over the truce that took effect last month — a deal brokered painstakingly after nearly two years of relentless conflict that began on 7 October 2023.

While large-scale bombardments have subsided, the ceasefire remains fragile. Gaza’s health authorities reported on Sunday that at least 236 Palestinians have been killed and more than 600 wounded by Israeli fire since the truce began over three weeks ago. The total Palestinian death toll since the war’s onset has now risen to 68,865.

The White House, for its part, continues to walk a tightrope — urging restraint from Israel while working behind the scenes to secure further hostage releases. Yet, sporadic strikes and targeted operations have persisted, revealing the uneasy truth that peace, for now, remains conditional.

In a parallel message that widened the scope of his warnings, Netanyahu turned northward — to Lebanon — accusing Hezbollah of rearming in violation of international commitments and urging Beirut to act before Israel does.

“Lebanon’s government must enforce its obligation to disarm Hezbollah,” he said. “If it fails, Israel will act in self-defence — decisively and without hesitation.”

Echoing his tone, defence minister Israel Katz issued a stern statement calling on Lebanese authorities to remove Hezbollah forces from southern Lebanon, warning that “maximum enforcement will continue and intensify — we will not allow any threat to residents of the north.”

The Israeli military, underscoring those words with action, announced it had killed four members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force on Saturday in the latest cross-border strike. The exchange is part of a simmering conflict that has persisted despite the November ceasefire, keeping Israel’s northern frontier tense and unpredictable.

Netanyahu’s twin warnings — to Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — capture the precarious balance Israel faces even in supposed calm: a ceasefire in name, but not in spirit.

As both sides trade accusations of violations, and the toll of the war continues to climb, the faint embers of truce flicker uncertainly against the region’s long, dark horizon.

For now, Israel’s message is unmistakable — the war may have paused, but the mission, in Netanyahu’s words, is “not yet complete.”

With IANS inputs