Bezalel Smotrich: Northern residents can start returning home on this date 

Speaking at a press conference today (Sunday), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the government is marking March 1 as the start date for the safe return of northern residents to their homes, following a year of being evacuated due to Hezbollah attacks.

Smotrich said that "in the past I said that returning home is part of the victory image, today I want to say that it is the victory image. The ability to return home, to develop and empower this part of the land two, three, and even four times more than what it was before the war, is our great challenge."

Smotrich then said that "I promise the residents: we will not return to 20 years of containment. We will not allow the reestablishment of terror bases - not on top of your homes and not next to them."

On a side note, Smotrich said that "I naturally want to let myself restrain myself another 15 days to say what I think all the way," in reference to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, "but I say with a guarantee to the residents of the north: we are not returning to 20 years of containment."