Israel remains on a high state of alert, bracing for the possibility of an Iranian counter strike after Israel’s attack on some 20 targets across Iran in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the Israeli attack severely impacted “Iran’s defensive capabilities and its ability to develop missiles”. He described the strike as “precise and powerful, achieving all of its objectives”.
Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Sunday that Tehran was not looking for war but would respond “appropriately” to Israel’s attack. Tehran reserves the right to respond to Israel’s “criminal aggression”, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told United Nations secretary-general António Gutteras in a letter calling for an urgent security council meeting.
According to a New York Times report, Israeli planes first attacked air defence batteries and radars in Syria and Iraq. After clearing the path, Israeli planes flew in the direction of Iran, a distance of more than 1,600km from Israel – and struck Iran’s air defence systems and facilities producing long-range missiles.
Iran’s most advanced S300 air defence batteries were destroyed along with the plants that build the surface-to-surface missiles that were fired at Israel on October 1st and April 14th.
According to Israeli military analysts, without air defence systems Iran is vulnerable and Israel will now be able to attack again whenever it decides after reducing the main threat to attack jets. The attack on the missile-building plants will make it difficult for Iran to maintain its fast pace of missile production and will force it to be more sparing in its use of munitions for a while.
Relatives of some of the 1,200 people killed in the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel heckled Mr Netanyahu at a memorial ceremony on Sunday marking the one-year anniversary of the attack according to the Jewish calendar. “Shame on you” and “my father was killed” they shouted at him.
After a month of deadlock, the directors of the CIA and Israel’s Mossad met Qatar’s prime minister in Doha on Sunday in an effort to revive Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release talks. Egypt is proposing a two-day truce and the release of four hostages by Hamas to enable talks on a more permanent agreement. However, according to the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, senior Hamas officials support a comprehensive deal that includes the release of all hostages held in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said that “painful compromises will be necessary to fulfil our obligation to return the hostages to their homes”.
One person was killed and 32 wounded, including six in a serious condition, in a lorry ramming attack on Sunday at a bus stop north of Tel Aviv, close to an Israel Defense Forces intelligence base. The driver, an Israeli Arab, was shot and killed at the scene. Most of the casualties were pensioners on a day trip who were getting off a bus at the stop.
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At least 45 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, most of them in the north, where Israeli troops have been operating for more than three weeks against Hamas militants. In excess of 20 people were killed following an air strike on houses in Jabalia. More than 43,000 people have been killed in the fighting in Gaza.