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Israel is planning to use Gaza as a “model” for its expanding assault on Lebanon, its defense minister said on Sunday as he pledged to begin the demolition of homes in border villages.

In a statement Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to “immediately destroy all the bridges over the Litani River that are used for terrorist activity, in order to prevent the passage of Hezbollah terrorists and weapons southward.”

He also said he’d ordered the military to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes in the border villages in order to thwart threats to the Israeli settlements — in accordance with the Beit Hanoun and Rafah model in Gaza.”

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered immediate demolitions in Lebanese frontline villages, citing Gaza cities such as Beit Hanoun and Rafah as a model, where large areas have been reduced to rubble in a genocidal campaign… pic.twitter.com/FRKRUf9MJV— TRT World (@trtworld) March 22, 2026

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered immediate demolitions in Lebanese frontline villages, citing Gaza cities such as Beit Hanoun and Rafah as a model, where large areas have been reduced to rubble in a genocidal campaign… pic.twitter.com/FRKRUf9MJV

Dylan Williams, the vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, described the invocation of this “Gaza model” as “an open admission of intent to commit ethnic cleansing” in Lebanon.

The two cities Katz referred to were largely wiped off the map........

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