TEL AVIV, October 1. /TASS/. Israel wants peace in the Middle East region, seeks to help Palestinians and Lebanese to achieve a peaceful future and calls on the international society to stop Iran to stabilize the situation in the region, President Isaac Herzog said.
"These are not ordinary days. We are being challenged by an empire of evil emanating from Tehran, and therefore we are fighting. We are marking one year to the most horrific massacre of Israelis and Jews since the Holocaust (on October 7, 2023 - TASS) down south. That's why we went to war in Gaza in order to change the entire situation and enable a better future for the Israelis and the Palestinians," the presidential office quoted Herzog as saying at the reception of diplomatic credentials.
According to him, Israel had the same goals in mind when it launched its military campaign in Lebanon to defeat the Shia group Hezbollah. "And now we are fighting in Lebanon, fighting Hezbollah, to do the same in order to change the equation and enable a better life, first of all, for Israeli citizens on the border, to enable them to come back home. And secondly, of course, I think that there offers an opportunity to the people of Lebanon to have a better future without the oppression of Hezbollah. And most importantly, it calls for the international community to be extremely proactive in blocking the aspirations of Iran to derail the region and enable a better future for our region. We don't have war with the people of Iran," he emphasized.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.
On September 23, Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows against Hezbollah units in Lebanon, during which it is carrying out massive airstrikes against the movement’s military facilities. The stated goal is to create secure conditions in Israel’s northern border areas so that tens of thousands of residents can return there. As a result of one of the strikes, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was eliminated in Beirut on September 27. The organization confirmed his death and vowed to continue its confrontation with Israel. In the early morning hours of October 1, the Israeli army announced a limited ground operation in southern Lebanon.