“Can’t be part of the game anymore:” Official says Israel killed Nasrallah as he demanded end to Gaza war

Beirut (Quds News Network)- Israel decided to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah after he refused to separate Lebanon from Gaza, an Israeli official told NBC News on Saturday.
“What we found after over 11 months is that Nasrallah is persistent in tying himself — and the hijacked Lebanese state that he took over — to whatever’s going on in Gaza,” the official said.
“He declined every diplomatic effort. He declined messages to stop connecting himself to Gaza. And he continued to fire at Israel, and in the past few weeks or months, even expanded the range and velocity of attacks against Israel.”
“This led us to understand that he cannot be part of the game anymore.”
“And what we did is to conduct a very precise, intelligence-based strike against the headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, to make sure that Nasrallah cannot be a decision maker anymore in the region.”
When asked if Israel believed Nasrallah’s replacement might be more open to a diplomatic solution, the official responded that whether the new Hezbollah leader agrees to a diplomatic solution for returning Israelis is up to him. But this is not Israel’s final option and that there are many other tools available to achieve their objectives if there is noncompliance, the official said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said the killing of Nasrallah was “a necessary condition” for achieving Israel’s goal of returning Israelis to the north and change “the balance of power in the region over the years.”
“Because as long as Nasrallah lived, he would quickly restore the capabilities we took away from Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said during a briefing. “That’s why I gave the directive — and Nasrallah is no longer with us.