Mobilization in North is a façade: Israeli media

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Israeli Security Minister Benny Gantz's announcement regarding the mobilization of the Israeli occupation forces in northern occupied Palestine is to trick the Israeli public and simultaneously warn Hezbollah against any initiatives, Israeli media said on Friday.

Tensions rose between the Israeli occupation and Lebanon earlier today due to the former rejecting changes requested by Beirut to the Israeli-Lebanese maritime borders, which reportedly prompted "Tel Aviv" to pull the plug on the demarcation negotiations.

"I would not rush and bury the agreement. The Lebanese have flexed their muscles and put several reservations on the table, one of which is highly important for Israel, which is the buoy line," Israeli Channel 13 military affairs commentator Alon Ben David said.

Israeli political affairs commentator Raviv Drucker told Channel 13 that Gantz's declaration regarding increased preparedness in the north "is a ploy to convince us with the signing of the agreement. 'Look what is going to happen here, and it can drive us into the bomb shelters'. It is clear that this is not directed at soldiers, and if he truly wanted to increase the level of preparedness, he would not have announced it to the public in this manner."

"By this, he is telling the Lebanese people that he is not seeking confrontation. Hezbollah also does not want a confrontation. But if you wanted a confrontation, for what? For a change in the agreement? He is forced to say this," Amos Gilad, the former head of the political security department in the Ministry of Security, said.

"[Gantz] is trying to send hints to the Lebanese side, and every party is using its own tools. The negotiations are still on the table, but he is trying to hint to Hezbollah that any actions could lead to an explosion," Alon Ben David added.

An Israeli official said Thursday that the Israeli occupation rejected revisions requested by Lebanon to the US-mediated border demarcation proposal.

The official, announcing Israeli occupation Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s decision to reject the revision requests, warned that any further negotiations would cease should Hezbollah threaten the Karish gas rig.

According to the Israeli official, "Israel will begin production of natural gas from its Karish field as soon as that is possible," and he warned the Lebanese resistance against taking any retaliatory action against the occupation.

This comes after Lebanon received the written proposal from the US mediator Amos Hochstein through US Ambassador Dorothy Shea regarding the demarcation of maritime borders.

The United States made an offer to the Israeli occupation and Lebanon to resolve the maritime border issue, Israeli media claimed in late September. The proposal is reportedly linked to the path the Lebanese-Israeli maritime borders will follow.

The settlement proposal, according to Israeli news outlet Haaretz, asked to change and adjust line 23 toward Lebanon instead of near the coast in order to allow for a "bigger defensive area against possible threats from the sea, near the coastline."

It is noteworthy that the Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah, has been a very effective factor in bringing the Israelis to the indirect negotiations table after it announced from day one that it has the Lebanese government's back in its righteous and sovereign claims.

Extraction of gas from Karish without guarantees to Lebanon that it will be able to explore and extract its maritime resources has been declared a red-line by Hezbollah since the negotiations kicked off, with the Israeli military receiving the threats loud and clear and increasing preparation to anticipate operations against the gas platform by the Resistance.