Israel’s Defence Minister said on Monday (June 15, 2026) that Israel won’t withdraw from land seized in Lebanon as the interim deal between Iran and the United States is pending.

Israel Katz’s remarks were the first official Israeli comments after the announcement of the interim deal. The two sides plan to meet on Friday (June 19, 2026) in Geneva to sign it, Pakistan has said.

Mr. 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.

Mr. Katz also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with “great force.” Over the past two and a half years, Israel has taken control of areas in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria amounting to 1,000 square kilometres of territory — an area that is slightly smaller than New York City.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, on Monday (June 15, 2026) denounced the deal between the United States and Iran to end the war in West Asia, including in Lebanon, insisting his country was not bound by it.

“Trump’s agreement does not bind us… we are not party to this agreement. It does not safeguard our security,” Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel, in what was the first reaction from an Israeli official to the deal.

“We must not settle for anything less than the dismantling of Hezbollah. We must not withdraw from a single inch of territory that our soldiers have captured and cleared of terrorist infrastructure,” he said.