The Israeli army will not withdraw from occupied territories in southern Lebanon for the time being, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday following the announcement of a framework agreement between the US and Iran to be signed in Geneva on Friday.
The deal is also aimed at ending the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a party to the agreement between the United States and Iran.
Katz said that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed however that the Israeli army would remain in the "security zones" in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip "without any time limit," in order to protect the border and Israeli communities from those positions.
Katz described the security zones as the army's "greatest achievements" in this war.
Katz also warned that Israel would strike back "with full force" should Iran attack the country because of events in Lebanon.
Far-right Israeli ministers take sharper tone
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich , writing on X, called the agreement "bad for Israel and for the entire free world. Period."
"We will have to continue the campaign to topple the regime ourselves and in creative ways, and ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons," he wrote on X.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, also on X, wrote that "Trump's agreement does not bind us," saying it does not ensure Israel's security.
"We love the USA and are grateful to President Trump. And yet, the State of Israel is not a banana republic," Ben-Gvir wrote.
