In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is facing political criticism over the limited nature of Sunday's air strikes on Hezbollah, while calls are growing for a more comprehensive offensive in Lebanon.
The fiercest criticism came from the far-right wing of the prime minister's divided coalition, in which there is increasing disagreement over the status of Jerusalem's holiest site.
The Israeli airstrikes and the Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks that followed soon after were the largest cross-border clashes since the 2006 war between the two sides in terms of the number of aircraft and munitions fired, but not in terms of the number of casualties. Three Hezbollah and its allies fighters were killed, and an Israeli sailor was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli interceptor.
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed that Sunday morning's preemptive strikes prevented Hezbollah from firing up to two-thirds of the rockets it wanted to fire at Israel. Israel also claimed to have shot down almost all of Hezbollah's incoming drones.
Netanyahu warned that the airstrikes were not “the end of the story.” However, Israeli press reports, citing military sources, said no further attacks were planned.
Both the center and the right of the political spectrum blamed the prime minister on Monday for the limited purpose of Sunday's air strikes, which critics said may have thwarted Hezbollah's planned air attack but did nothing to help the up to 80,000 residents of the northern border towns who have been expelled from northern Israel since October to return to their homes.
Representatives of the displaced population who were driven from their homes by Hezbollah's bombings in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip have announced that they will boycott meetings with government officials, accusing the coalition of prioritizing the defense of central Israel rather than the north.
Ben Caspit, a columnist for the center-right Maariv newspaper, wrote: “For nearly a year, the Galilee was pulverized, devastated and set on fire; tens of thousands of Israelis were driven from their homes; and the entire country, which not so long ago was considered a regional superpower, was humiliated.” He said Netanyahu had chosen the most cautious of the military options presented to him by his generals.
“It has prevented and thwarted one of Hezbollah's operational plans, but it has not changed our strategic position in the northern war zone,” Caspit added, arguing that a broader air campaign would begin to “create the conditions that will enable the residents of the Upper Galilee to return to their homes and allow Israel to restore its sovereignty over parts of its own territory.”
Benny Gantz, a retired general, former minister in Netanyahu's coalition and one of his main rivals, called the airstrikes “too little, too late.”
In a video message during a visit to communities in the north, he said: “We must maintain the advantage of the initiative taken and increase political and military pressure to expel Hezbollah and return the residents of the north safely to their homes.”
Netanyahu's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir joined in the criticism.
“Israel cannot be satisfied with a single pre-emptive strike. We must wage a decisive war against Hezbollah that will eliminate the threat in the north and allow residents to return home safely,” Ben-Gvir said.
He has singled out Gallant as an opponent of the allegations. The ministers of national security and defense are embroiled in a bitter public dispute over government policy, particularly the status of the holy grounds surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which Jews call the Temple Mount.
Ben-Gvir pushed his campaign to reverse Israel's policy regarding the site, which had been in place since the capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. After that, only Muslims were allowed to pray at the site, while Jews were allowed to pray at the Western Wall.
Ben-Gvir violated this rule when he led Jewish prayers there last month and declared on army radio on Monday that Jews had the same status as Muslims.
“The regulations for the Temple Mount allow prayer, period,” he said. “There is a regulation that the same laws should apply to Jews and Muslims.”
He added that if it were up to him, there would be an Israeli flag and a synagogue on the Temple Mount.
The prime minister's office said in a statement that there had been no change in the status quo at the site. Other members of the coalition criticized Ben-Gvir for his inflammatory rhetoric, warning that it could trigger an uprising among Palestinians and outrage throughout the Arab world.
“Undermining the status quo on the Temple Mount is an unnecessary and irresponsible act,” Gallant said. “Ben-Gvir's actions endanger Israel.”
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party called for Ben-Gvir to be stripped of authority over the police and warned: “His irrationality could cost lives.”
