Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will stay at five strategic points in southern Lebanon "indefinitely," the minister's office said in a statement on Friday.

Katz "clarified that the IDF will remain at the five points that control the buffer zone in Lebanon, indefinitely, for the sake of protecting the residents of the north, and this is without any connection to future negotiations on points of dispute on the border," the statement read.

Additionally, the minister instructed Israeli troops to strengthen their positions at the five key points and get ready to remain there for a long time, according to his office.