A senior political official said that, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made clear, Israel will remain in the security buffer zone for as long as necessary to defend its northern border. The official did not rule out the ceasefire order, but said the instruction to the IDF was to respond strongly to any Hezbollah attack and to remove threats to Israeli forces.
According to the briefing, Netanyahu’s directive is that if Hezbollah attacks again, Israel will strike back with force. The official added, “If Hezbollah returns to attack us, we will hit it again with full force.”