Gaza residents can safely return home but in the north, Hezbollah is still a threat, Commander of the IDF Homefront Command General Rafi Milo said on Tuesday. "In the south we've had considerable achievements," he said in the Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth conference dealing with national resilience.
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"I am comfortable with the decision to allow residents living close to the border with Gaza to come home, in terms of their security. On October 7, trust was broken between them and the military along with the sense of security that was fractured. Since then there has been an improvement in the trust but getting back the sense of security is harder," he said.
But in the north, he said there is a different story. "On the one hand we have had significant achievements in the war with Hezbollah including their infrastructure, but we have not yet removed the threat," Milo said. "We are doing everything we can to bring residents back but not while there is still a security risk."
On Tuesday, the municipality of Rishon Letzion announced its plan to house tens of thousands of city residents in underground shelters in case of a Hezbollah rocket attack on Israel that would result in damage to homes in the city. The municipality said it was preparing parking areas to be used as temporary safe spaces if and when needed.
Hezbollah is thought to have in its arsenal precise weapons that can reach most of the country and cause mass injuries and massive damage.