(Jerusalem) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday his country’s right “to protect itself”, in the face of calls from the international community which is trying to prevent a massive response by Israel against Iran that risks leading to Middle East in a spiral of conflicts.
Iran, for its part, paraded soldiers, missiles and drones for Army Day, repeating that it would provide a “fierce” response to any response from its enemy, after the unprecedented attack that the Islamic Republic launched against Israeli territory during the night of April 13-14.
Visiting Israel, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on all parties to exercise “restraint.”
“I’m not talking about giving in, I’m talking about intelligent restraint here,” Ms.me Baerbock, the first foreign official to travel to Israel, with her British counterpart David Cameron, since the Iranian attack.
This attack was followed by threats of cross reprisals between Israel and Iran, in a context of high regional tensions since the start, on October 7, of the war between Israel and Hamas, ally of Tehran, in the Gaza Strip .
While negotiations for a truce are “stagnating”, according to Qatar, the Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health on Wednesday counted 56 deaths in 24 hours across the Palestinian territory, besieged and bombarded daily by Israel.
On another front, Lebanese Hezbollah, another ally of Tehran, announced on Wednesday that it had struck a military base in northern Israel from Lebanon with explosive drones and missiles, in response to strikes which killed three of them the day before. his fighters.
Fourteen people were injured in Israel by these strikes, according to emergency services.
In southern Lebanon, AFP images on Wednesday showed a patrol of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) roaming devastated villages along the border, deserted by their inhabitants, which had become a row of ruined houses and of charred cars after six months of exchanges of fire.
“Calling the whole world”
Israel “reserves the right to protect itself”, affirmed Benjamin Netanyahu during his meetings with the two European ministers.
The Israeli head of state, Isaac Herzog, called on “the whole world” to counter the threat posed by Iran, “which seeks to undermine the stability of the entire region”.
Tehran claimed to have acted in self-defense by attacking Israeli territory, after a deadly strike against the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1er April, which he attributed to Israel.
Almost all of the 350 drones and missiles launched by Iran against Israel, a total load of 85 tons, were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, with the help of the United States and other allied countries.
“We cannot stand idly by in the face of such aggression, Iran will not emerge unscathed,” promised Israeli army spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Tuesday.
The form that this response could take, against Iranian territory or against Iranian interests in a third country, remains uncertain.
The United States, Israel’s staunch ally, quickly made it known after the attack that it did not want “an extended war with Iran” and would not participate in an Israeli response.
“Coordinated sanctions”
The White House, on the other hand, announced that it would impose “new sanctions targeting Iran, including its drone and missile programs”, its Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, and its Department of Defense.
The European Union is also considering broadening the scope of its sanctions. Annalena Baerbock pleaded on Tuesday for new European sanctions on Iranian drones.
David Cameron spoke to British television on Wednesday that the G7 countries, which are meeting this week in Italy, would impose “coordinated sanctions” against Iran, accusing this country of being behind “so much malicious activity” in the region.
Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, tensions have been growing in the Middle East, involving Israel and Iran, enemies since the Iranian revolution of 1979, and their respective allies.
The Islamic Republic, which calls for the destruction of Israel, had until now refrained from attacking it head-on and the two countries were used to confronting each other through third parties, such as the Yemeni Houthi rebels and Hezbollah. .
The UN calls for donations
After more than six months of war in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to fight Hamas “mercilessly” and maintains his plan for a ground offensive against the city of Rafah, in the south, despite the presence of a million and a half of Palestinians.
This city was bombed again Tuesday evening, according to testimonies collected by AFP. “Around 10:45 p.m., an Israeli rocket hit a house of displaced people (…) The family was having dinner when an Israeli missile demolished their house above their heads,” said Sami Nyrab, a resident of Rafah.
The army announced Wednesday that its air force had struck “more than 40 targets across the Gaza Strip” the day before and “eliminated numerous terrorists.”
The UN, which fears widespread famine in the territory of 2.4 million inhabitants, launched an appeal on Wednesday for donations of 2.8 billion dollars to help the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, occupied by Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday refuted “the allegations of international organizations about a famine in Gaza” and affirmed that Israel was doing “everything possible on the humanitarian issue”.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented attack carried out on October 7 by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel, which left 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report established from official Israeli data. More than 250 people have been kidnapped and 129 remain held in Gaza, 34 of whom have died according to Israeli officials.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union, and launched an offensive that has so far killed 33,899 people, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
reference: www.lapresse.ca