Israel and Iran exchanged new threats after the massive and unprecedented attack launched by Tehran against its enemy, which aggravated the risk of a conflagration in the Middle East, already shaken by the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel will “retaliate against the launch of so many cruise missiles and drones on the territory of the State of Israel,” Army Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said Monday evening while visiting the Nevatim base, in the south of the country, hit by a strike.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi warned on Tuesday that “the slightest action” by Israel against “Iran’s interests” would provoke “a severe, widespread and painful response” from his country.
The war, meanwhile, shows no sign of respite in the Gaza Strip, besieged for more than six months and threatened with famine, where the Israeli offensive against Iran’s ally Hamas has left 46 dead in 24 hours. , according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday, in front of new recruits to his army, that Israel was fighting Hamas “mercilessly” “in order to repel a brutal enemy, the monsters who attacked us”.
“Whenever we choose”
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, after months of growing tensions across the region, Iran for the first time launched a direct attack against Israel, in retaliation for a deadly strike against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, 1er April, attributed to Israel.
“We will do whatever is necessary to protect the State of Israel, and we will do it on the occasion and at the time we choose,” army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel said on Monday. Hagari.
Since Sunday, calls have been increasing around the world to prevent a massive response which could further inflame the region.
Israel announced that it had intercepted, with the help of the United States and other allied countries including France and the United Kingdom, but also Jordan and Saudi Arabia, almost all of the 350 drones and missiles launched by Iran against its territory.
Benjamin Netanyahu, under great pressure to avoid an escalation, called on Monday the international community to “remain united” in the face of “Iranian aggression, which threatens world peace”.
“Right to self-defense”
But after standing up with its allies against the Iranian attack, the United States said it did not want “an extended war with Iran” and warned that it would not participate in a retaliatory operation, while displaying their “unwavering” support for Israel.
US President Joe Biden on Monday called on Israel to avoid a regional escalation and to work for a “ceasefire” in Gaza, associated with the release of hostages.
The United Kingdom and France have also distanced themselves.
Since the start of the war on October 7 in the Palestinian territory, tensions have been growing in the Middle East, involving Israel and Iran, enemies since the Iranian revolution of 1979, and their respective allies.
The Islamic Republic, which calls for the destruction of Israel, had until now refrained from attacking it head-on and the two countries were used to confronting each other through third parties, such as Lebanese Hezbollah and the Yemeni rebels. Houthis, allies of Iran.
Tehran claimed to have acted “by exercising its right to self-defense” and said it considered “the matter closed”.
“One bakery”
On Tuesday, Israeli bombardments targeted the Gaza Strip, notably the town of Khan Younes, in the south, where 15 people including children were killed, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
The army withdrew from this city at the beginning of April after several months of fighting. The UN announced on Tuesday that the presence of unexploded ordnance in the ruins, “including 500 kilo bombs in schools and on roads”, complicated the assessment of the damage, after an inspection mission on site.
In Gaza City, a long line formed in front of a recently reopened bakery, where many employees were trying to serve customers who had been waiting for long hours, according to AFP images.
“I waited six hours for a loaf of bread,” said one man, Khaled al-Ghoula. “It’s very difficult, it’s unfair to only have one bakery to feed the entire Gaza Strip,” he added.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the volume of humanitarian aid allowed by Israel to enter the Gaza Strip, mainly from Egypt, remains well below the target of 500 trucks per day, with “181 trucks” every day since the beginning of April.
Hamas continues to demand a definitive ceasefire while Benjamin Netanyahu maintains his plan for a land offensive against the city of Rafah, in the south, which he presents as the last great bastion of the Islamist movement.
The international community fears a bloodbath in this border town with Egypt, which has become a refuge for a million and a half Palestinians, most of them displaced.
The army announced on Tuesday that it had continued its operations in central Gaza and had killed “terrorists who were advancing towards them” with tank fire.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented attack carried out on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil from Gaza, which left 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain held in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel promised to destroy Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. Its army launched an offensive that has left 33,843 dead so far, according to Hamas’ health ministry.