Despite Israel's declared objective to eliminate Hamas's military capabilities by the end of the war in Gaza, the IDF was instructed to prepare for continued rocket fire and threats from across the border with the Strip as well as on the Lebanon frontier.
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The military would have to erect new engineered defenses between the communities in the Western Negev as well as in the Upper and Western Galilee regions, after the government agreed that the elimination of the threat from Hamas would take years in the wake of the group's 14-year long military build-up.
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Entrance to Metullah in north, rocket fire from Gaza, protective wall being built along Gaza border
(Photo: Said Khatib / AFP)
According to the IDF, Hamas fired a barrage of rockets to central Israel late on Sunday, from within areas mostly controlled by Israeli troops.
The plan which already underway, is to convince residents of cities along both border, and the agricultural communities that surround them, to return home in the near future. Government and military officials have been discussing the matter with regional mayors while engineers had begun construction on the ground in the south, to increase protection from incoming anti-tank fire that may target the roads along the Gaza border.
There would also be a dramatic increase in troop deployment in the south, in a level not previously seen, with thousands of soldiers positioned to defend the movement of civilians living in or visiting the area, once the population returns. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in the south and in the north at the start of the war.
In the north, the government appears willing to allow for the diplomatic efforts of the U.S. and France, to secure an agreement that would remove Hezbollah forces from the Lebanese border with Israel and prevent an Israeli military offensive against the Shi'ite terror group.
Should those efforts fail, and thousands of the Hezbollah's elite Radwan force would remain within 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the frontier, Israel would then be able to begin extensive aerial strikes against Hezbollah which could extend to a ground offensive in South Lebanon.
According to the IDF, such military action would have to take place while the military would be involved in various intensity of combat in Gaza as well.
The proposed fortification of the south and north of the country would cost massive resources estimated in the billions of shekels and would include construction of the 130 kilometer (80mile) long barrier spanning the entire length of the Israel-Lebanon border from the coast to the Sheba farms in the east, three times the size of wall approved by the government before the war.
The budget for the newly revealed plans includes the cost of forces needed to protect border area communities in the coming years, including dozens of reserve battalions that would be called up for weeks of deployment at a time and involve raising the age of military reserve service to 45.