Tel Aviv, 27 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Israel's attack on Iran was, in the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, "precise and powerful," as Iranian leaders weighed a possible response.

Netanyahu stated that the attack "achieved all its objectives," during a speech at a memorial event on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem for the victims of the Hamas massacre on October 7 last year.

Netanyahu said Israel is in an existential struggle against an "Axis of Evil" led by Iran. He asserted that Israel's enemies must pay a "very high price." Iran, he said, attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles at the beginning of the month. "This attack failed."

Israel then responded in the early hours of Saturday, Netanyahu said. The air force targeted numerous sites in Iran. "We severely damaged Iran's defence capabilities, as well as their ability to manufacture missiles that are directed against us."

He thanked the United States for "their close coordination and support."

Netanyahu addressed the Iranian people directly: "Our fight is not against you, but against the tyrannical regime that oppresses you and threatens the entire region."

Iran discusses retaliation

The Iranian parliament on Sunday convened for a meeting behind closed doors to discuss a response to the Israeli attack.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for a considered approach. "How the strength and will of the Iranian people should be made clear to [Israel] is for those responsible to decide," Khamenei said on Sunday at an event in the capital Tehran, according to the state news agency IRNA.

"What should be done is what is in the best interests of this people and country," the 85-year-old religious leader said.

Many injured after lorry drives into group north of Tel Aviv

A lorry has driven into a group of people waiting at a bus stop north of Tel Aviv, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said on Sunday, with some 40 people injured.

Six people suffered severe injuries, it said. The driver was shot by bystanders, media reports said.

Initially, media reports suggested that the police assumed it was an attack. However, the police stated that the circumstances of the incident are still being investigated.

Shortly after the incident near Tel Aviv, the army announced that a Palestinian attempted to ram soldiers at a military checkpoint in the West Bank with his car and attack them with a knife. The driver was shot dead. None of the soldiers were injured.

Israeli army says it attacked Hamas command centre in Gaza

The Israeli Air Force attacked a command centre of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the military said early on Sunday.

The command centre was located in northern Gaza in a building that previously served as a school, the Israeli military said.

The centre was used by Hamas terrorists to "plan and carry out terrorist operations against the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] troops and the State of Israel," the military said on X.

The army said this was another example of what it called the systematic misuse of the civilian infrastructure by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas, violating international law.

For the past three weeks, the Israeli military has been carrying out operations in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian reports say that hundreds of civilians have been killed during this time.

The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented terrorist attack on southern Israel by Hamas and its allies just over a year ago. Members of the militia and other gunmen killed over 1,200 people and abducted around 250 more into the Gaza Strip.

Since then, Israel has been waging a war in an attempt to destroy Hamas both as a military force and political organization.

The number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the war has risen to over 42,000, according to the Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza.

Israel targets Hezbollah in overnight strikes on southern Beirut

The Israeli army said on Sunday morning that "precise" strikes were carried out on weapons production and maintenance facilities, as well as a Hezbollah weapons depot in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.

Throughout the previous day, approximately 70 Hezbollah fighters were "eliminated" and more than 120 positions of the militia were attacked, the army said on Sunday.

Additionally, in southern Lebanon, infrastructure of Hezbollah's aerial unit was targeted, according to the army.

Hezbollah for the first time issued warnings on Sunday to residents of Israeli towns and villages, calling on them to evacuate.

These include the border town Kiryat Shmona and the coastal town of Nahariya, Hezbollah said on Saturday evening.

According to the Israeli army, Hezbollah has to date fired around 14,000 rockets at Israel. Israel has responded with almost daily massive airstrikes and, since September, with a ground offensive.

The 25 locations named by Hezbollah are all residential. According to international humanitarian law, indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets are prohibited. Civilian targets lose their protected status if they are used for military purposes. 

Three people were injured when a rocket fired by Hezbollah struck the northern Israeli city of Tamra and were taken to hospital, according to Magen David Adom.

Videos from the predominantly Arab city north-east of Haifa showed buildings and cars on fire. According to the army, Israel was attacked with about 75 projectiles from Lebanon over the course of Sunday morning.

Four more Israeli soldiers have been killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the army said on Sunday, adding that five additional soldiers were wounded and taken to hospital.

Photo: MIA archive