Israeli military chief vows response to Iranian attack
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi says Tel Aviv is still considering its steps during a visit to an air base that suffered light damage in the strikes; U.S. says it is not involved in Israel’s decision making process
Associated Press
Israel’s military chief said on Monday that Israel will respond to Iran’s weekend missile strike, but did not immediately elaborate on when and how.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that Israel is still considering its steps, but he said that the Iranian strike of missiles and attack drones “will be met with a response.” Mr. Halevi spoke during a visit to the Nevatim air base, which Israel says suffered light damage in the Iranian attack.
World leaders’ plea
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been huddling with top officials to discuss a possible response to Iran’s attack involving hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
World leaders have been urging Israel not to retaliate.
The Iranian attack on Saturday marked the first time Iran has launched a direct military assault on Israel, despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The attack happened less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.
The Israeli military says that 99% of the drones and missiles launched by Iran were intercepted, with the help of other countries including the United States, Britain and France.
Despite the reported interceptions, Iran has called the attack a success.
‘Let Israelis speak’
In Washington, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to say whether the U.S. had been or expects to be briefed on any Israeli response plans. “We will let the Israelis speak to that,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We are not involved in their decisionmaking process about a potential response,” Mr. Kirby said.
Israel and Iran have been on a collision course throughout Israel’s sixmonth war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The war erupted after Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a devastating crossborder attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others.
Agence France-Presse
Israel’s Opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of leading to a “total loss of Israeli deterrence” in the wake of an unprecedented Iranian attack.
In a scathing criticism posted on X, former Premier Mr. Lapid also said that under Mr. Netanyahu, “Jewish terrorist violence” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank was “out of control”.
Mr. Netanyahu, who returned to power in 2022 at the helm of a coalition with farright parties, has brought “heaps of destruction from Beeri to Kiryat Shmona”, Mr. Lapid said, calling for early elections.
Beeri, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, came under attack when Hamas militants stormed the area on October 7, triggering the ongoing war, while the northern town of Kiryat Shmona has suffered during months of crossborder fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Mr. Lapid’s remarks came two days after Iran’s attack on Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu’s Cabinet has weighed Israel’s response to the Iranian attack, but the Prime Minister has not made any public comments.
In the West Bank, where violence has soared since the start of the IsraelHamas war, Israeli settlers torched Palestinian homes and cars over the wee