In a video posted on Instagram, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on the regime’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu to flatten the suburbs of the Lebanese capital as Israel escalates its aggression against the Arab country.
Ben-Gvir said he had opposed the ceasefire with Lebanon and urged stronger attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Addressing Netanyahu directly, he said, “Dear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, I love and appreciate you, but now is the time to level the suburbs to the ground.”
“We have appreciation for [US President Donald] Trump, and we must say thank you for the partnership,” the extremist minister added.
In a televised address on Saturday, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Israel is “pursuing a scorched-earth policy” by “destroying towns and villages, and forcing their inhabitants into exile.”
Earlier this week, the Israeli military intensified its attacks on Lebanon, as Netanyahu said he had ordered the occupation’s army to escalate its offensive in a further erosion of the already fragile truce.
In turn, the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah conducted several attacks on positions in the northern part of the Israeli-occupied territories “in response to the violation of the ceasefire” by the usurping regime.
At that time, Ben-Gvir called for a “return to intensive warfare” and further occupation of Lebanese territory.
On March 2, Hezbollah launched military operations against the Israeli regime in response to its aggression against Iran, its repeated violations of the 2024 ceasefire, and its continued occupation of Lebanese territory in the country’s south.
Following the Iran-US ceasefire on 8 April, Tel Aviv was compelled to accept a ceasefire in Lebanon as well, after Tehran demanded an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanese soil as one of its primary conditions in indirect negotiations with Washington.
The Israeli military, however, quickly resumed its assaults on southern Lebanon, issuing evacuation threats for several areas even after the initial ten-day truce between Tel Aviv and Beirut was extended.
Israeli occupation forces also continue to hold parts of southern Lebanon, where they have imposed a so-called “Yellow Line” — a coercive military buffer resembling the regime’s notorious control measures in the besieged Gaza Strip.
According to Lebanese authorities, since March 2, the Israeli military has killed more than 3,371 people, injuring over 10,129, and displacing over 1.6 million individuals.