An Israeli Army tank is transported, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in northern Israel. (IMAGE: REUTERS)
Benjamin Netanyahu will have to secure the cabinet’s approval before giving the green signal on the retaliatory attack that could heighten the tensions in West Asia.
Israel will finalise its attack plan on Iran on Thursday and the nation’s security cabinet will convene to vote on how the country will respond to the Iranian ballistic missile attacks earlier this month, US broadcaster CNN said in a report.
The decision comes after US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a call on Wednesday amid the tensions with Iran, while Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant promised an Israeli strike against Iran will be “lethal, precise and surprising.”
The 30-minute call was the first known chat for Biden and Netanyahu since August and coincides with a sharp escalation of Israel’s conflict with Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, but with no sign of an imminent ceasefire to end the conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
The call was “direct and very productive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements and are open about them.
On Tuesday night, Netanyahu met for hours with senior ministers and Israel’s top military and intelligence leaders to deliberate the extent and timing of upcoming Israeli strikes, news outlet Axios said.
Under Israeli law, the prime minister must secure cabinet approval for any major military action, especially one that could escalate into a full-scale conflict with Iran.
They also indicated that the retaliation will be substantial, likely involving a mix of airstrikes on military targets in Iran and covert operations, similar to the one that resulted in the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Here Are The Latest Updates From The Israel-Hamas-Lebanon-Iran Clashes:
- The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said Thursday an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalised.
- A strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed 28 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. It said several other people were wounded.
- Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy to discuss the strike on a UN peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon where Italian personnel operate.
- The top UN official in Lebanon repeated her call for an immediate cease-fire, saying the 21-day cease-fire proposal launched by the US and France is still on the table “and very relevant.” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Wednesday that a halt to fighting is the only way to ease “the colossal human suffering that is happening right now,” address Lebanon’s “humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions” and provide a window “for diplomatic efforts to take hold and succeed.”
- Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.
- Iran warned Saudi Arabia it could not guarantee the safety of the Gulf kingdom’s oil facilities if Israel were given any assistance in carrying out an attack, a senior Iranian official and an Iranian diplomat told Reuters.
- Israel’s police and Shin Bet internal security service said on Thursday they arrested five Palestinians from northern Israel associated with the Islamic State group over an alleged plan to bomb a mall in Tel Aviv.
