War in the Middle East: Israel's response to Iran becomes clearer

Israel intends to continue the war and promises to “strike without mercyé Hezbollah in all parts of Lebanon.” Benjamin Netanyahu also plans to strike the Iranian army in retaliation for the rain of missiles launched on the Hebrew state in early October.

The essential

• This Tuesday, October 15, Israel reaffirmed its determination to continue the fight in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to continue to “mercilessly strike Hezbollah in all parts of Lebanon, including Beirut” the day after the deadliest attack launched by Lebanon since the start of the escalation. The Islamist movement claimed responsibility for the attack targeting a military base in Binyamina, in northern Israel, killing four soldiers and injuring more than 60, according to rescuers.
• The Israeli prime minister is also considering taking on Iran, according to the Washington Post.Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Joe Biden and assured the American president that he intends to strike the Iranian army and its military bases, without hitting nuclear or oil sites, in retaliation for the rain of 200 missiles launched by Tehran against the Hebrew state on October 1.
• While Israel has called for the withdrawal of peacekeepers from southern Lebanon, the head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has rejected the request: “It has been decided that [it] will maintain all its positions despite calls by the Israeli army to liberate the positions that are at proximity to the Blue Line.” As a reminder, Israel is accused of having “forced entry” into one of the UNIFIL positions with two tanks, injuring peacekeepers, on Sunday, October 13. Attacks that could amount to “war crimes” denounced by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Latest updates

09:22 – American reaction to the Israeli attack on a Gaza hospital and to the images of civilians burned alive

While on 14 October, UNRWA denounced and broadcast images of the horrific scenes that occurred in a hospital in the Gaza Strip following an Israeli strike, the spokesperson for the Security Council The White House National Security Council responded on Tuesday, as reported by an Axios reporter: “The images and videos of what appear to be displaced civilians being burned alive after an Israeli airstrike are deeply disturbing, and we have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government. Israel has a responsibility to do more to prevent civilian casualties – and what happened here is horrible, even though Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields.” The main American ally denounces the horror caused by the attack, without condemning the attack itself, which targeted a hospital considered a Hamas stronghold but occupied by civilians.

09:10 – Netanyahu considers striking Iran

Israel has still not retaliated against Iran after the rain of 200 missiles launched by Tehran against the Hebrew state on October 1, but the Israeli Prime Minister is looking into the issue and raised it during a telephone conversation with Joe Biden on Monday, October 14, according to the Washington Post.According to the American newspaper, Benjamin Netanyahu is considering striking Iranian military bases, without hitting nuclear or oil sites. No launch window has been mentioned, nor even an “imminence” of the attack.

10/14/24 – 9:54 p.m. – Netanyahu pleads for the withdrawal of UNIFIL, Paris, Berlin, Rome and London express their concern

On Monday evening, the Israeli prime minister said in a second video that “the best way to ensure the safety of UNIFIL personnel is for UNIFIL to respond to Israel's request and temporarily withdraw from danger,” assuring in passing, while the “Hebrew state is accused of “possible war crimes” by the UN after five peacekeepers were killed, injured by Israeli strikes in recent days: “Israel is not fighting UNIFIL. It is not fighting the Lebanese people. It is fighting Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy that is using Lebanese territory to attack Israel.”

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Later in the evening, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom expressed in a joint statement their “deep concern” following the recent attacks by the Israeli army on UNIFIL bases, which left several peacekeepers injured”. Condemning “all threats to the security of UNIFIL”, they called for that these “attacks cease immediately” and brandished international law.

10/14/24- 6:54 PM – Israel will continue “to strike Hezbollah mercilessly, including in Beirut”, promises Benyamin Netanyahu

While Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in open warfare since September 23, the Prime Minister of the Hebrew State once again made remarks that were offensive to say the least on Monday, in a video filmed during a visit to a military base hit the day before by a Hezbollah drone and published on social networks. Benjamin Netanyahu clearly assures that Israel will continue to “mercilessly strike Hezbollah in all parts of Lebanon, including in Beirut". 

This Monday morning, according to Palestinian doctors quoted by the Associated Press, the courtyard of a hospital in the Gaza Strip was bombed by the Israeli army, killing at least four people and setting fire to a camp for displaced people. In the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital, children were present at the time of the attack, four dead and forty wounded have been reported so far.

The IDF claims for its part that it was targeting “terrorists”. “Hamas operatives used the hospital compound to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against IDF forces and the State of Israel,” the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesman said on X. A motive already cited by the Israeli army for targeting this type of facility. 

42,289. This is the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas terrorist offensive on October 7, 2023 in Israel. A figure communicated by the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government, on Monday, October 14, 2024, which reveals the intensity of the fighting that has now lasted for more than a year. Over the months, tensions have intensified, and as of October 27, 2023, Israel extended its ground operation to Gaza. The goal for Netanyahu and the IDF is clear: to “annihilate” Hamas. A week-long ceasefire was nevertheless in place in November 2023. After a major leap forward, on April 13, 2024, Iran launched its first massive attack on Israel. Allied to Hamas, Iran then fired nearly 350 explosive drones and missiles at the Hebrew state. An attack in response to missiles fired at the embassy in Damascus in Syria on April 1, in which 11 people lost their lives, including seven Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

On Tuesday, September 17, 2024, a new type of attack broke into the war. Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies exploded. Twelve dead and nearly 3,000 injured were reported in Lebanon. Since its coordinated explosions, Israel has continued to strike Lebanon with air and ground raids. More than 1,000 people were killed in IDF strikes and thousands of Lebanese were forced to be displaced. On October 1, 2024, Iran responded by sending nearly 200 ballistic missiles directly to Israel. Since then, the two countries have been engaged in a merciless war, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening on October 8, 2024 that Lebanon would experience “destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza” if the country's population did not “free itself” from Hezbollah. Remarks described as “provocation” by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot.

On Monday, October 14, 2024, the Lebanese Hezbollah threatened Israel with new attacks in a statement. As a reminder, Hezbollah had struck Haifa two days earlier, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring no fewer than 60. At the beginning of the week, the terrorist organization indicated that “the resistance (…) promises the enemy”. The raid carried out “south of Haifa is only a foretaste of what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our people”, it threatens. According to Palestinian doctors quoted by the Associated Press, the courtyard of a hospital in the Gaza Strip was then shelled by the Israeli army, killing at least four people and setting fire to a camp for displaced people.