Hezbollah doubles down on correlating Gaza ceasefire with calm in North

Hezbollah stood firm Tuesday on the linkage between a Gaza ceasefire and an end to its cross-border war with the IDF along Israel’s northern border, amid heightened concern of a third Lebanon war.

“If there is a ceasefire in Gaza,” then Hezbollah will stop its attacks on Israel “without any discussion,” deputy leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said during an interview in the Beirut office of the Associated Press.

Halfway measures were not acceptable, he said, adding: “If what happens in Gaza is a mix between ceasefire and no ceasefire, war and no war, we can’t answer [how we would react] now, because we don’t know its shape, its results, its impacts.”

The New York Times on Tuesday reported that there was tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF over the next steps in Gaza now that the intense phase of the army’s military campaign against Hamas is winding down.

Netanyahu expresses continued goal of destroying Hamas

Netanyahu has insisted that a military campaign must continue until Hamas is completely destroyed, while the IDF would like to end the war to help make a hostage deal and with an eye toward thwarting the threat of Hezbollah from the North.

The disagreement had been publicly evident, even before the Times report, which made use of anonymous sources. IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari told Channel 13 last month: “Hamas is an idea. You can’t destroy an idea.”

In response to the Times report, Netanyahu said he was adhering to the goals set out for the war, including a full defeat of Hamas.

“I do not know who these anonymous sources are, but I am here to make it unequivocally clear: This will not happen,” Netanyahu said. “The war will end once Israel achieves all of its objectives, including the destruction of Hamas and the release of all of our hostages.”

He also dismissed claims in the article that the IDF was low on munitions needed for its war with Hezbollah and thus wanted to end the Gaza war.

“The IDF has all the means to achieve them,” Netanyahu said. “We will not capitulate to the winds of defeatism, neither in The New York Times nor anywhere else. We are inspired by the spirit of victory.”

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said “restoring calm” along the northern border between Israel and Lebanon “continues to be a priority.”

The US “believes that a ceasefire in Gaza could bring about a calm to the conflict in the North, as well as creating conditions” for Israeli and Lebanese civilians who have not been able to live in their homes along the border since the IDF-Hezbollah violence heated up in October, he said.

The IDF-Hezbollah war has run concurrently with the Gaza war, which was sparked by the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7 in which it seized 251 hostages, including 120 who remain in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden unveiled a three-phase hostage deal on May 31 that he hoped would lead to a permanent ceasefire at the start of phase two. Hamas is insisting that it must be agreed upon before phase one begins and has rejected the deal.

Israel has agreed to the deal but not to Hamas’s call to amend it. Under the terms of the deal, the first stage would see a lull to the war and the release of 33 hostages, while indirect talks would be held on the question of a permanent ceasefire.

The US and the international community have urged Hamas to accept the deal, which has also been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council.

“We continue to be an intense effort with our partners in Egypt, our partners in Qatar, to see ways that we can close the gap” between Israel’s position and that of Hamas, Patel said.

To advance the issue, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Tuesday with United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. They discussed “ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that provides for the release of the hostages” as well as steps necessary to improve humanitarian access, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

They discussed ways to “establish governance, security, and reconstruction to build lasting peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians alike” in the aftermath of the Gaza war,” he said.

The two men also spoke of the importance of de-escalating “tensions between Israel and Hezbollah,” Miller said.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday weighed in on the issue of a Gaza ceasefire without the complete destruction of Hamas.

He held a press conference in Sderot, which has endured more than two decades of rocket attacks by Palestinians in Gaza. It was also one of the communities Hamas and other terrorists invaded on October 7.

“This is not the time to stop,” Smotrich said. “This is not the time to take your foot off the gas. [This is] the most upside-down [idea]. It is time to bring in more forces and increase the military pressure.”

There are more and more signs that Hamas is at the breaking point, he said.

“I would not be surprised if suddenly, after months of refusal,” Hamas’s Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, “would respond positively to the offer he received for a deal because he is in a panic, and he understands that we are close to victory,” Smotrich said.