Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was ready to resume fighting at any time in the Gaza Strip, where a fragile ceasefire has been in place for just over a month.
"We are ready to resume intense fighting at any time, our operational plans are ready," Netanyahu said in an address to a new class of officers in central Israel.
Netanyahu said that Israel had "eliminated most of the organized Hamas forces" in Gaza.
"We will fully achieve the goals of the war, whether through negotiations or other means," the Israeli prime minister said.
The ceasefire came into effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war sparked by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023, on Israeli soil and which devastated the Gaza Strip.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which envisages three stages leading to a final end to the war, is due to end on March 1st.
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Israel has ordered its military to prepare for an "extended presence" in parts of the occupied West Bank as it steps up operations against Palestinian militant groups, the Israeli defense minister said on Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the military to carry out an "intensive" operation in the West Bank after explosions on buses near Tel Aviv on Thursday, in what Netanyahu's office described as an attempted mass attack. There were no reported casualties.
The Israeli military has been conducting a large-scale military operation in the West Bank for the past month that it says is targeting militants.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes in refugee camps in the West Bank, while houses and infrastructure have been demolished.
In a statement today, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered military forces to expand operations in the Palestinian refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur al-Shams in the northern West Bank to dismantle the militants' infrastructure.
He said 40.000 Palestinians had left the camps.
The tanks will be deployed to Jenin as part of the offensive, the military statement added, in the first deployment of tanks by Israel in the northern part of the West Bank it has occupied for more than 20 years.
Nabil Abu Rudeyneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the decision to deploy tanks in the northern West Bank.
"This is a dangerous Israeli escalation that will not lead to stability or calm, and we warn against this dangerous escalation," he said.
In his statement, Katz said that the United Nations (UN) agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRVA) has been told to suspend its activities in the camps.
The agency could not immediately be reached for comment, according to Reuters.
No group has claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv bus bombings, which came amid a fragile ceasefire in Gaza between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel after nearly 16 months of war.
The ceasefire in Gaza has held since it came into effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations by Israel and Hamas.
Tens of thousands of people filled a stadium near Beirut early this morning for the funeral of the former Hezbollah leader, nearly five months since his killing in an Israeli airstrike on the southern outskirts of the Lebanese capital.
Hassan Nasrallah was killed when the Israeli air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the premises of the militant group Hezbollah.
His death was a major blow to the Iran-backed group, which transformed its slain leader into a powerful force in the Middle East.
Nasrallah was the leader of the group for more than 30 years and one of its founders. He wielded great influence among other Iranian-backed groups in the region and was respected in the so-called Iranian-led axis of resistance that included Iraqi, Yemeni and Palestinian factions.
Officials from across the region, including Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, are expected to attend the funeral, as they did previously at the main sports stadium in the Lebanese capital.
Lebanese officials, including the speaker of parliament, heads of state and the prime minister, are expected to attend the funeral, which is believed to be the largest in Lebanon in two decades.
Iranian officials arrived on separate planes from Tehran this morning, indicating that a ban on flights from Iran imposed when the Israeli military alleged that Iran was smuggling money to Hezbollah on commercial flights appeared to have been lifted.
Senior Hezbollah official Ali Damush told reporters yesterday that around 800 figures from 65 countries are expected at the funeral, in addition to thousands of political and other activists from around the world.
Nasrallah will be buried later today in Beirut, while his cousin and successor Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb a few days after him, will be buried in his hometown in southern Lebanon.
The two were previously buried in secret locations, and Hezbollah announced plans earlier this month for what it said were official funerals.
Hezbollah has urged its supporters to attend the funeral in large numbers in what appears to be a bid to show that the group remains powerful after suffering major setbacks in a 14-month war with Israel that has killed scores of its political and military leaders.
Another blow to Hezbollah was the collapse in early December of the five-decade rule of the Assad family in Syria, which had been a strong ally of the Lebanese group and a major route for the flow of weapons and money from Iran.
Under the ceasefire that ended the war with Israel on November 27, Hezbollah is not allowed to have an armed presence along Lebanon's border with Israel. Hezbollah's rivals are calling on the group to lay down its arms throughout Lebanon and become a political force.
Hezbollah prepared for the funeral by organizing a reception for tens of thousands of people at the stadium, and setting up large screens on the airport road in front of the stadium for people who would not get a seat inside.
Strict security measures were taken, including the closure of leading roads near the burial site.
The Lebanese army and police are on alert and the military has banned the use of drones in Beirut and its suburbs today. Flights to Beirut International Airport will be closed for four hours from noon.
Just hours before the funeral was due to begin, the Israeli military carried out a series of strikes in southern Lebanon. The military said it carried out "a precision strike based on intelligence on a military location where rocket launchers and weapons were located on Lebanese territory."
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