Defense minister says Israel won't withdraw from land seized in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza

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Source: AP

Updated 3:39 AM EDT, June 15, 2026


TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s defense minister said Monday that Israel won’t withdraw from land seized in Lebanon, potentially challenging an interim deal that Iran and the United States reached hours earlier that includes opening the Strait of Hormuz and further extending a shaky ceasefire.

Details of the deal were not immediately released and Iran signaled implementation would not start until the signing, which key mediator Pakistan said would take place Friday in Switzerland.

But the memorandum of understanding over the war already faced hurdles. Israel’s continued hostilities with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs Sunday, nearly derailed the negotiations. Israel joined the U.S. in launching the war on Feb. 28.

Israel says it won’t withdraw from Lebanon

In the first official Israeli comments after the announcement of the deal, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel won’t withdraw from land seized in Lebanon as the interim deal is pending. Katz said Israel plans to stay “indefinitely” in lands it holds in Lebanon, as well as Syria and the Gaza Strip. Iran has tied the interim deal over the war to halting Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Katz also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with “great force.”

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