After Israeli strike on Iran, Netanyahu says objectives achieved

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the attack ” Israel's “precise and powerful” war against Iran had achieved its goals, at a time when its forces are relentlessly bombing Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

The attack on Saturday against military targets in Iran, the first publicly announced by Israel against its sworn enemy, have sparked calls for restraint in the face of the risk of military escalation in the Middle East.

In this explosive context, a truck hit a bus station near a military base in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, killing one person and injuring around 30, according to the police, who did not immediately specify whether it was an attack.

In a first public reaction to the strikes in Iran, Mr. Netanyahu spoke of a “precise and powerful” attack that “achieved all its objectives.”

“The air force struck Iran's defense capabilities and missile manufacturing” targeting Israel, he said during a ceremony for the first Hebrew anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

In another speech on the same occasion, he was briefly interrupted by relatives of victims of October 7.

Iran has asserted its “right to defend itself” after Israeli strikes in several regions including Tehran, which the army said caused “limited damage” and killed four soldiers.

Iranians walk past a billboard in Tehran displaying photos of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian (2 L) with Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri (L) on one side and US President Joe Biden (2 R) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) on the other, on October 27, 2024 © AFP – ATTA KENARE

And Israel has threatened Iran with “paying a high price” if it retaliates.

“I hope this is the end” of the cycle of violence, said US President Joe Biden, whose country is the main supplier of arms to the Israeli ally.

– “No need to respond” –

A photo provided by the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him waving before a meeting in Tehran on October 27, 2024 © KHAMENEI.IR – –

There is “no need to exaggerate or minimize” the Israeli strikes, said Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whose country has made support for the Palestinian cause a pillar of its foreign policy, following Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967.

According to Joost Hiltermann, director of the Middle East program at the International Crisis Group, the United States wanted the Israeli retaliation to be “proportionate so that Iran would not need to respond.”

The attack on Iran was carried out in response to Iranian missile attacks on Israel on October 1. According to Tehran, the strikes were aimed at avenging Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah near Beirut and that of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an attack in Tehran blamed on Israel.

Israel said the strikes were also a response to attacks by movements supported by Iran, referring to Hezbollah and Hamas, which it has vowed to put out of harm's way.

A protester holds up a placard during an anti-government rally calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on October 26, 2024 © AFP – Jack GUEZ

The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or killed in captivity. Of the 251 people kidnapped at the time, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the army.

According to data from the Hamas Health Ministry, at least 42,847 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, which is in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

– “Unbearable distress” –

A wounded Palestinian man stands near a cart carrying bodies killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, on October 27, 2024 © AFP – –

On Sunday, witnesses reported strikes on the northern Gaza Strip, particularly in Jabalia, where the Israeli army has been conducting a devastating and deadly ground and air offensive since October 6 to prevent Hamas from regrouping its forces.

At Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, Jihad Muqat mourns the deaths of his wife and two young daughters, whose bodies were pulled from the rubble in Jabalia. “Aline was the eldest, my dear Lulu, she was three and a half years old, and Sama was 12 days old. I also buried my daughter Lara before, she was two years old,” he says, his face tearful.

“The plight of Palestinian civilians trapped in northern Gaza is unbearable,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said.

New negotiations are expected Sunday in Doha between Israelis, Americans and Qataris to discuss the possibility of a truce in Gaza associated with the release of hostages.

For Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, “painful concessions” are necessary to “bring our hostages home.”

– Deadly strikes in Lebanon –

In Lebanon, Hezbollah, in support of Hamas, opened a front against Israel on October 8, 2023. After a year of cross-border firefights and after weakening Hamas, the Israeli army has focused its operations on Lebanon, carrying out intense air raids since September 23, mainly on Hezbollah strongholds.

It has also been conducting a ground offensive since September 30 in southern Lebanon, where it said it had lost 36 soldiers in fighting against Hezbollah in nearly a month.

The Lebanese movement continues to launch drones and rockets at Israel, while an Israeli strike near Saida left at least eight dead on Sunday, according to the authorities.

A column of smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area near the city of Saida in southern Lebanon on October 27, 2024 © AFP – MAHMOUD ZAYYAT

Israel's goal is to neutralize Hezbollah in order to stop rocket fire and allow the return of tens of thousands of displaced people to their homes them.

At least 1,620 people have been killed since September 23 in Lebanon, according to an AFP count based on official data.

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