Asharq Al-Awsat

Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Sunday said Israel should shift its focus toward Hezbollah and the Lebanese border, warning that "we are late on this."

"We have enough forces to deal with Gaza and we should concentrate on what is going on in the north," Gantz said, speaking in Washington at a Middle East forum where he also said Iran and its proxies were "the real issue."

"The time of the north has come and actually I think we are late on this," the former army chief and centrist politician added.

According to Agence France Presse, Gantz said Israel had made a mistake in evacuating much of the north of the country as hostilities with Hezbollah flared following the October 7 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war.

"In Gaza, we have crossed a decisive point of the campaign," he said. "We can conduct anything we want in Gaza."

"We should seek to have a deal to get out our hostages but if we cannot in the coming time, a few days or few weeks, or whatever it is, we should go up north."

"We are capable of... hitting the state of Lebanon if needed," he said.

"The story of Hamas is old news," he added, saying instead that "the story of Iran and its proxies all around the area and what they are trying to do is the real issue."