Netanyahu says returning residents to north Israel now a Gaza war goal

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday expanded the country’s goals for the war in Gaza, vowing to allow Israelis who fled areas near the Lebanon border to return to their homes.

Nearly a year after Hamas’ October 7 attack sparked war in the Gaza Strip, cross-border fire has been traded almost daily between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which says it is supporting its Palestinian ally.

The exchanges have killed hundreds of mostly fighters in Lebanon, and dozens of civilians and soldiers on the Israeli side.

It has also forced tens of thousands of people on both sides from their homes.

“The political-security cabinet updated the goals of the war this evening, so that they include the following section: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement released early Tuesday.