JERUSALEM (AP) — A top Iranian military adviser warned Israel yesterday that none of its embassies were safe following an attack in Syria’s capital last week blamed on Israel that killed 12 people, including two top Iranian generals. Regional tensions threaten to drag the Middle East into a broader conflict as the war in Gaza marks six months.
Israel is preparing for an Iranian response to the attack, although it has not directly acknowledged its involvement. General Rahim Safavi’s statements indicated that the attack on a diplomatic mission in Damascus might receive a similar response.
“None of the embassies of the (Israeli) regime are safe anymore,” said Safavi, military advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, quoted by the semi-official Tasnim agency.
Safavi spoke at a ceremony in Tehran in memory of the Revolutionary Guard generals who died in the attack that tore down an Iranian consular building in Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was prepared for any response.
“Whoever harms us or plans to harm us, we will harm them,” he said at a cabinet meeting.
Six months
Regional tensions are growing six months into the war, which broke out when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking regarding 250 captive. Israel responded with fierce bombings and an offensive in Gaza that have killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. Another 75,886 have been injured.
The six months of war have been met with growing frustration in Israel, where anti-government protests have increased and anger is growing over what some Israelis see as government inaction to free the approximately 130 remaining hostages.
Negotiations to achieve a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages were expected to resume in Cairo yesterday.
“Humanity has been practically abandoned” in Gaza, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.
The United Nations and its partners warn of “imminent famine” for more than a million people in the Gaza Strip as aid workers urge Israel to relax restrictions on delivering aid by land, the only way to meet rising supplies. needs while some Palestinians turn to weeds for food.
Mothers who have given birth in Gaza since the war began are especially vulnerable.
According to the Israeli government, more than 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7.
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Meeting with the Pope
Pope Francis will receive the families of some hostages of the Palestinian militia Hamas at the Vatican today, as announced yesterday by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, on an official visit to Rome.
Israel statement
“I thank the Pope for responding to the request to receive the families of the hostages to give them strength and support the return of the kidnapped people. The Pope’s support has great moral and practical weight and I am convinced that it will help them return home,” the minister celebrated in a statement.
Unconfirmed
The audience with the Pontiff, according to the Israeli source, will take place today, although the Holy See has not yet confirmed it.
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2024-04-16 11:02:21