The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday approved an extension of legislation allowing for the emergency call-up of Israel Defense Forces reservists.
Lawmakers authorized Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to allow the IDF to call up up too 400,000 reservists under Section 8 of the Reserve Service Law, 2008, until May 31.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Sunday that the military had met all war goals set by the political echelon, “and even beyond,” but stressed that further operations remained ahead, according to a Knesset readout of the confidential discussion.
Zamir said the army’s operational focus was on Iran and Lebanon, while also continuing operations in the Gaza Strip, maintaining stability in Judea and Samaria, monitoring developments along the Syrian border and remaining alert to threats posed by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists.
The army chief said the military had shifted to a forward defense posture, operating inside enemy territory rather than on the Jewish state’s borders. The threat of cross-border infiltrations of Israeli communities had been removed as part of lessons learned from past wars, he said.
“We were surprised in 1973, we were surprised in 2023, and we will not allow ourselves to be surprised again,” Zamir stated, referring to the Yom Kippur War and the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
