Herzi Halevi, Chief of Staff of the IDF, visited soldiers on the border with Lebanon on Sunday, and held a situation assessment with the commanders there.
Speaking about the return of Israel's thousands of internally displaced citizens, who were evacuated from border areas following the outbreak of war on October 7, Halevi said that "we must return to a different situation, and return to both security and the feeling of security."
"There is a military way to do this," Halevi said, "the beginning of which you are doing here- to strike, to deter, to kill Hezbollah operatives."
Since October 7, areas near the border have seen daily exchanges of fire between IDF and Hezbollah forces, resulting in many Hezbollah casualties and some Israeli casualties.
That restoration of security, Helevi said, "can also come from an attack and war." He added that "the State of Israel has never looked at war as the first solution, but we understand that this must end with a very, very clear change of situation. And yes, a very hard thing happened that shows us there are cases when we must use this tool, in its full power."
"We are using it in Gaza," he said, "I don't want to say with full force, but with great force, and with excellent achievements."