Iran’s supreme leader vowed on Saturday to respond punitively to Israel’s attacks last week, as Israel continued its airstrikes in Gaza and Lebanon.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened Israel and the United States with a punitive response to attacks on Iran and its allies. Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian military bases and other locations on October 26.
“Whether it is the Zionist regime or the United States, these enemies will be met with a devastating response for what they have done to Iran, the Iranian nation and the resistance front,” Khamenei said in a video released by Iranian state media.
Iran has launched two direct attacks on Israel this year, and another attack could plunge the Middle East into a wider conflict. Israel is already at war with the Iranian-backed militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the Gaza Strip.
Air strikes on Israel and Beirut
The central Israeli town of Tira was attacked at dawn on Saturday, injuring 11 people. It was one of several attacks launched by Lebanon. Air raid sirens sounded in parts of Israel that day, and many flying objects were intercepted by Israeli air defense forces.
Magen David Adom emergency services said a building in the Israeli town of Tira was directly hit, and shrapnel and glass fragments injured 11 people. Tira is a town with a predominantly Arab population. Video showed that the roof and top floor of the three-story building and the car below were severely damaged.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Saturday that it had attacked military and intelligence facilities in northern and central Israel with missiles and explosive drones.
The group claimed to have fired missiles at the Israeli Army’s 8200 Force base in Glilot, a suburb of Tel Aviv, and rockets at the Zvulun military facility. Hezbollah also said it used explosive drones to attack the Palmachim Air Force Base in central Israel, “hitting the target with precision.”
The Israeli army did not confirm whether the three targets mentioned by Hezbollah were attacked, and said it would not comment on the group’s claims.
Hezbollah also said its fighters fired several rockets at northern Israeli towns. The Israeli army said several drones flew into Israel from Lebanon, one of which was intercepted, but “a crashed target was found locally.”
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said Israel launched an airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday afternoon, killing one person and injuring 15 people. Israeli warplanes resumed airstrikes on the southern suburb of Dahiyeh on Friday evening after four days of silence in the capital.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said early Friday that more than 2,897 people have died and 13,150 people have been injured in Lebanon since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah broke out in 2023. UN agencies estimate that Israel’s ground operations and bombings in Lebanon have displaced 1.4 million people.
About 60,000 residents of northern communities in Israel near Lebanon have also been forced to leave their homes over the past year.
Israel attacks Gaza
Israel has stepped up its attacks on remaining Hamas fighters in Gaza in recent weeks, raising concerns about the humanitarian situation of civilians in Gaza.
Dr. Marwan Abu Naser, director of Al-Awda Hospital, which receives the wounded, told the Associated Press that a series of Israeli attacks on the Nusserat refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 42 people in 24 hours, more than half of whom were women and children. He said another 150 people were injured.
Medical officials said Israel struck a street in the nearby Bureij refugee camp late Saturday, killing at least six people. The dead were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where AP reporters counted the dead.
The Israeli army also said two soldiers were killed in southern Gaza.
Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera news TV reported on Saturday that Hamas rejected the partial ceasefire in Gaza because they were worried that Israel would resume operations in Gaza after releasing the hostages. The TV station has close ties to Egypt’s intelligence services, which have been a key mediator in the year-long conflict.
Finally, the World Health Organization on Saturday restarted a scaled-down polio vaccination campaign, offering second doses only to high-risk children in Gaza City. The organization had previously provided first doses to several areas in northern Gaza that have come under heavy Israeli bombardment.
