Situation in North can’t continue, Netanyahu says ahead of Hochstein visit 

The cross-border violence between the IDF and Hezbollah in the North of the country “cannot continue,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of a meeting with US special envoy Amos Hochstein on Monday.

What is needed, Netanyahu said at the weekly government meeting, is “a change in the balance of forces on our northern border.” He also pledged to restore safety to that area so that the more than 60,000 residents of the border communities evacuated in October can return home.

“I am attentive to the residents of the North. I speak with them and with the heads of local authorities in the North. I see their distress. I hear their anguish,” he said.

“I am committed to this. The government is committed to this and we will not suffice with less than this,” he stated.

Hochstein, who is also expected to meet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, is pushing to find a diplomatic solution to the contained IDF-Hezbollah war to prevent it from breaking out into a more wide-scale conflict.

Gallant has argued that Netanyahu has to prioritize the North over the South, making it the primary focal point of the IDF’s efforts rather than the South.

Prioritized fronts and potential new borders proposed 

Netanyahu, however, has continued to invest in the southern front with Hamas as the main military objective.

Hochstein, according to KAN, is expected to propose a slight redrawing of the map along the border between Israel and Lebanon.

It had also been hoped that a Gaza hostage deal would open the door to a diplomatic resolution along Israel’s northern border, but no such agreement has been forthcoming.

Hezbollah increased its attacks against Israel on October 8, in support of Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel.