Israeli Military Calling Up Reservists for More Gaza Operations

An Israeli tank blocks the road as Internally displaced Palestinians who fled from the northern Gaza strip attempt to return from the southern Gaza strip, 14 April 2024. (EPA)
An Israeli tank blocks the road as Internally displaced Palestinians who fled from the northern Gaza strip attempt to return from the southern Gaza strip, 14 April 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Military Calling Up Reservists for More Gaza Operations

An Israeli tank blocks the road as Internally displaced Palestinians who fled from the northern Gaza strip attempt to return from the southern Gaza strip, 14 April 2024. (EPA)
An Israeli tank blocks the road as Internally displaced Palestinians who fled from the northern Gaza strip attempt to return from the southern Gaza strip, 14 April 2024. (EPA)

The Israeli military said on Sunday it will soon call up two reserve divisions for operations in Gaza, where it has been conducting a war against the Hamas movement.

"In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is calling up approximately two reserve brigades for operational activities on the Gazan front," the military said, though it provided no further details.

Earlier this month Israel pulled some forces out of Gaza, saying troops would be preparing for further operations in the territory, including in the southern area of Rafah, where more than a million people have taken shelter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to evacuate civilians from Rafah before any incursion aimed at crushing Hamas battalions there, but that has done little to quell international concern over the planned assault.



Israel’s Defense Minister Says Troops Will Remain in Syrian Buffer Zone Indefinitely

Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)
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Israel’s Defense Minister Says Troops Will Remain in Syrian Buffer Zone Indefinitely

Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)
Israeli soldiers patrol the top of Mount Hermon near the border with Lebanon in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights on 20 November 2023. (AFP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon, currently occupied by Israeli forces, on Tuesday and said Israel will remain there and in the buffer zone for an “unlimited time.”

Katz said Israel must stay in the zone to ensure “hostile forces” will not gain a foothold on the Israeli border nor anywhere within 50 kilometers (30 miles) beyond the zone, citing security for Israeli residents in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

For decades, the Syrian-Israeli border remained largely quiet under a 1974 agreement that established a UN-patrolled demilitarized buffer zone after the 1973 Mideast war.

But after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ouster in December, Israeli forces entered the 400-square-kilometer (155-square mile) buffer zone, calling it a temporary move to block hostile forces.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel will stay in the zone until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security.” That drew criticism from residents of the zone and Arab countries.