Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expanded the country’s goals for its offensive in Gaza, vowing to allow Israelis who fled areas near the Lebanon border to return to their homes, AFP reports.

“The political-security cabinet updated the goals of the war this evening, so that they include the following section: the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement released early Tuesday.

The day before, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told a visiting US envoy that “military action” was the “only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities”.

Hezbollah officials have said the group would stand down if a Gaza ceasefire were reached, but Gallant warned time was “running out”.

Hamas, meanwhile, said it was readying for further fighting, with assistance from fighters and support from across the region. In a letter to the group’s Yemeni allies, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar said: “We have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition.”