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‘Word truce should be deleted from lexicon’, says Israeli minister
Asked whether Israel should prioritise defeating Hamas or returning the captives, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the government is committed to both.
“No one will give up on either of them,” he was quoted by Israel’s Reshet Bet radio as saying. “The word truce must be erased from the lexicon. The Gaza Strip will be demilitarised.”
Cohen also addressed Israel’s response to Houthi-claimed missile attacks, saying retaliation “should not be limited to Yemen alone”. “The one behind it all is Iran – and it must pay a price,” he said.
Low morale, exhaustion among soldiers could hamper Israel’s expanding multi-front war
Caroline Rose, the director of the New Lines Institute think tank in Washington, DC, spoke to Al Jazeera earlier about Israeli forces fighting on multiple fronts – from Gaza to Yemen and Syria to Lebanon – and how so many conflicts will drain Israeli military capabilities.
Here’s more of what Rose said:
“Netanyahu, of course, is preparing more plans for doubling down on their offensive in the Gaza Strip. So, this is certainly going to be something that will impact the [Israeli military’s] operational capacity.
“And I think it is also worth noting that, as of now, the plan is to bring reservists into the second and third fronts that have been opened – in Lebanon, in Syria – and then swap out with those reservists, active-duty [Israeli] soldiers and deploy them into Gaza.
“On the one hand, the idea is that these forces will have operational experience – battlefield experience – that can contribute to gains made in the Gaza Strip. But, on the other hand, we are seeing a group of [Israeli] soldiers that will have low morale, they’re exhausted, and they may not necessarily be able to contribute to a successful campaign,” she said.
An Israeli reserve soldier takes part in a protest, with the mothers of soldiers, calling to end the war in Gaza, in Israel, on May 4
