Gallant issued a statement following an assessment meeting with the head of the Israel Defence Forces’ Operations Directorate and the head of its Intelligence Directorate.
Iran has vowed revenge in response to a suspected Israeli attack on its embassy in Syria on Monday. It is unclear when that may happen or whether Iran would try to attack Israel directly or through one of its proxy groups such as Hezbollah, based in Lebanon.
The strike in Damascus destroyed the consulate building and killed at least 13 people, including seven Iranian military personnel and six Syrian nationals, according to Iranian state media.
Israel did not confirm the attack, consistent with its usual response to accusations of targeting Iran.
Israel “will be punished. We will make them regret their crime”, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
At least 23 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes in Syria, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally.
Meanwhile, as the situation in the Middle East escalates, the bloodiest ever war in Gaza that broke out six months ago has taken an appalling human toll.
At least 33,175 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory in Israel’s campaign of retaliation for the Hamas attack of October 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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Humanitarian aid workers delivering food killed in Gaza in ‘unintentional’ air strike
Humanitarian aid workers delivering food killed in Gaza in ‘unintentional’ air strike
The unprecedented Hamas raid on southern Israel killed 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
While Hamas has refused to say how many fighters it has lost, Israel claims to have killed more than 12,000.
Like many of the casualty figures from the war, this is impossible to confirm independently.
Israel on Sunday pulled all its troops out of southern Gaza, including from the city of Khan Yunis, the military and Israeli media said, after months of fierce fighting with Hamas militants left the area devastated.
But the military, known as the IDF, said a “significant force” will continue to operate in the rest of the besieged Gaza Strip.
“The 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Yunis,” the army said in a statement to AFP. “The division left the Gaza Strip in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations.
Iran arrests senior Isis member, two others accused of planning Ramadan attack
Iran arrests senior Isis member, two others accused of planning Ramadan attack
“A significant force led by the 162nd division and the Nahal brigade continues to operate in the Gaza Strip and will preserve the IDF’s freedom of action and its ability to conduct precise intelligence based operations,” the statement said.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the withdrawal was tactical.
An army official told the left-leaning daily that “there’s no need for us to remain in the sector without an [operational] need”.
“The 98th division dismantled Hamas’s Khan Yunis brigades and killed thousands of its members. We did everything we could there.”
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire until the hostages being held in Gaza are released.
His comments made at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting came as a new round of truce talks in Egypt were set to begin.
Netanyahu said that despite growing international pressure, Israel would not give in to “extreme” demands from Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
As Israel’s foreign ties falter amid Gaza war, Taiwan sees chance to cosy up
As Israel’s foreign ties falter amid Gaza war, Taiwan sees chance to cosy up
Israel also said on Sunday that it has lost some 600 troops since the war began, 260 of them killed in Gaza itself since it went in on the ground on October 27.
Seventeen Israelis – soldiers, settlers and civilians – have been killed in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Eight civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers have died in the north in Hezbollah rocket and missile attacks from Lebanon, with tens of thousands of people displaced.
Of the around 250 Israeli and foreign hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 129 remain in Gaza, of which the military says 34 are dead. The bodies of 12 hostages have been returned to Israel.
The Israel military said 9,100 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza since October 7. It has called up 300,000 reservists, 17 per cent of them women.
Most of the 33,175 people killed in Gaza in Israel’s retaliatory campaign have been women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Clashes, deadly aid chaos in war-torn Gaza; Israeli strike wounds UN observers
Clashes, deadly aid chaos in war-torn Gaza; Israeli strike wounds UN observers
At least 459 Palestinians have been killed in violence in the occupied West Bank, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
The Israeli military claims to have “eliminated 420 terrorists” in its West Bank operations.
Israel says it has struck 32,000 targets in Gaza from the air since the war began.
Israeli fire since October has killed at least 359 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters, while at least 70 civilians have also died, according to an Agence France-Presse tally.
The cross-border fire has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon.
Fighters from other groups in Lebanon including Hamas and the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement are also included in the total.
Israel says it has struck 1,400 targets from air in Lebanon and 3,300 with artillery, rockets and tanks.
Its military said 3,100 rockets have been fired over the border from Lebanon and 35 from Syria.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters