Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, was on Monday coordinating Israel’s response with his Italian and American counterparts, discussing a series of “scenarios and corresponding defensive and offensive capabilities”.
Israel’s Kan Public Broadcaster reported that “intensive work” was being done to make sure a coalition of Arab and Western nations will help defend Israel against an Iranian attack.
“Everyone has an interest in the incident not evolving into a regional war,” Kan reported, citing anonymous Western diplomats.
When Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen attacked Israel in April with 360 drones and missiles, the UK, US, France, Qatar, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all helped foil the attack
On Monday Israel continued attacking both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The IDF said its airstrikes killed Abed Al-Zeriei, Hamas’s minister of economy in Gaza, saying he played a “significant role in directing Hamas’s efforts” to seize control of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes also killed two Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon, following a drone attack in northern Israel that left an Israeli soldier and officer wounded.
Turkey and Japan meanwhile called on its citizens to leave Lebanon in light of the situation.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, repeated his warning to Iran and its proxies on Monday, saying Israel is determined to “stand against them on every front and in every arena – near and far. Whoever seeks to harm us will pay a very heavy price”.