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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel leveled accusations on Saturday that Hezbollah, with Iranian backing, had attempted to assassinate him. The claim comes as the Middle East stands on edge, following Israel’s vow to strike back after an Iranian missile attack, threatening to ignite further conflict in the region.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, speaking on behalf of the military, confirmed that a drone had struck a building in Caesarea in an apparent attempt to target Prime Minister Netanyahu. The incident underscores the growing threat posed by drone warfare in the ongoing conflict.
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price,” he said in comments to Tehran and “its proxies”, which include Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a group Israel has been at war with since late September.
Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said a drone “hit a building in Caesarea, while trying to hit the prime minister”.
As Israel battles on two fronts—in Lebanon and Gaza—it has also pledged to retaliate against Iran for the missile barrage launched on October 1. Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed that the response would be “deadly, precise, and surprising,” signaling a calculated and severe retaliation amid mounting regional tensions.
In a dramatic show of force, Iran announced it had fired 200 missiles at its archenemy in retaliation for the deaths of an Iranian general and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The missile strike is a clear message from Tehran that it will respond forcefully to the loss of its senior military and political figures.
Read also: Drone Attack Was An Attempt To ‘Assassinate’ Me – Netanyahu
Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Saturday that a sweeping Israeli military operation has killed more than 400 people in two weeks in the territory’s north, where Israel kept hammering militant targets while fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hamas ally Hezbollah has vowed to intensify attacks on Israel and on Saturday launched rocket barrages at Israel’s north, where rescuers said one man was killed by shrapnel.
Hamas, Hezbollah and allied Iran-backed groups in the region have vowed to keep fighting after Israeli troops killed the Palestinian movement’s leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, more than a year into the war triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Analysts said Sinwar, accused of masterminding that attack on Israel, was pivotal to ending the Gaza war and securing the release of Israeli hostages.
Israel, vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping in northern Gaza, launched a major air and ground assault on October 6, tightening its siege on the war-battered area and sending tens of thousands of people fleeing.
Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said “we have recovered more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip”, including Jabalia and its refugee camp, since the Israeli operation began.
The actual death toll may be higher, Bassal told AFP, as “there are dozens of bodies scattered in the streets of Jabalia”.