Defense Minister Yoav Gallant convened the Emergency Economic Committee on Tuesday to discuss preparations for the possibility of expanding the regional campaign, and to prepare the government for the rehabilitation and strengthening of communities in the north.
Gallant insisted on preparing the various systems, with an emphasis on the health, energy and communication systems, to deal with a possibility of extensive shooting towards Israel.
He reviewed the progress of the military operation against Hezbollah with the director generals of the government ministries and representatives of the defense system and emphasized that Israel is making progress in creating conditions for the return of residents in the north to their homes.
"After defending Israel about two weeks ago from a vicious Iranian attack of 200 ballistic missiles that were fired at us, we have no intention of putting up with a violation of our sovereignty and an attempt to harm Israeli citizens and infrastructure without reacting. The response against Iran will be precise, painful and surprising," Gallant said.
He added, "We need to discuss the significance of everything, and although we have concentrated our forces in the north and the south, the meaning of such an action could also affect other places. We have seen examples of this. We have no interest in opening additional fronts and additional operations. I am involved in preparing the security system, together with The Chief of Staff, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. All in all, we are all seeing things eye to eye, both in relation to the need for a response and the essence of the response."
"A year ago we were at a very low point. Today we are in a situation where we have almost completely cut off Hamas' ability to act as an organization. Hezbollah is heading in the same direction – Iran has not used an effective tool to force the State of Israel into difficult conditions. The main reason the Iranians fired against us is because we have cut these two branches very significantly. They are assets that Iran has built over decades, with an investment of billions and they see that they are in a hopeless situation and are resorting to the use of force," the Defense Minister emphasized.
"In addition, we are currently creating the conditions that will enable the residents of the north to return home. It will take more time, but the process is progressing. We are currently in a completely different situation than we were in the dangerous scenarios and the reason for this is the forceful action of the IDF – nothing less, nothing more; all its units and in all its locations,” he concluded.
