'Gideon's Chariots': IDF will hold Gaza

(JNS) — There will be no retreat from territory recaptured from Hamas in Gaza—not even as part of a hostage agreement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday.

“This is a dramatic decision: Once the operation begins, there will be no withdrawal from land we conquer—not for any deal,” Smotrich said at the B’Sheva Jerusalem Conference. “The only way to free the hostages is to defeat Hamas. Any retreat would only invite the next Oct. 7.”

The minister spoke after a decision overnight by Israel’s Security Cabinet to significantly expand the IDF’s ground operation in Gaza. A political sourc...