Israel last night accused Tehran of an assassination attempt after a drone carrying explosives was launched at the family home of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Neither the Israeli Prime Minister nor his wife Sara were at the property in the coastal town of Caesarea, between Tel Aviv and Haifa, when the device was launched from Lebanon in the early hours of yesterday.
It is understood to have struck a building near Mr Netanyahu’s large, white-brick residence. Last night, Mr Netanyahu said: ‘The agents of Iran who tried to assassinate me and my wife today made a bitter mistake.
‘This will not deter me and the State of Israel from continuing the war against our enemies to take our security for generations.
‘I say to the Iranians and their partners in the axis of evil: Anyone who harms the State of Israel will pay a heavy price for it.’
Israel last night accused Tehran of an assassination attempt after a drone carrying explosives was launched at the family home of Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured in a defiant video telling viewers ‘I am proud of you’
Aftermath of a missile fired from Lebanon into Haifa on Saturday
It marked a period of heightened tensions in the region, with Israeli officials condemning Iran and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which it backs, for the attempt on Mr Netanyahu’s life.
Israel last night continued to bomb the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, while Lebanese state media reported fresh strikes on a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut, after the Israel Defence Forces ordered residents to leave the capital city.
It came two days after Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the architect of the October 7 massacre last year which left 1,200 dead and triggered the escalation in violence between Israel and Hamas.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday issued a rallying cry following Sinwar’s death, vowing: ‘Hamas is alive and will stay alive.’
A senior Israeli official blamed Iran for an ‘(attempt) to assassinate the Prime Minister of Israel’, adding: ‘The order to launch the drone came directly from Tehran. It was a large Iranian drone carrying an explosive payload, launched directly at the Prime Minister’s residence in Caesarea.
‘This assassination attempt will have consequences that will be felt in Tehran.’
And in a defiant video statement earlier yesterday, Mr Netanyahu said: ‘Two days ago we took out Yahya Sinwar, the terrorist mastermind whose goons beheaded our men, raped our women, burnt babies alive.
‘We took him out and we are continuing our battle with Iran’s other terrorist proxies. We’re going to win this war.’
Iran yesterday heralded the strength of its so-called ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel, which includes Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq. The ayatollah insisted that Sinwar’s death ‘will not halt the axis of resistance’ and that Hamas ‘would live on’.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, yesterday issued a rallying cry following Yahya Sinwar’s death, vowing: ‘Hamas is alive and will stay alive’
At least 50 people, including children, are thought to have been killed yesterday as Israel continued to bomb Gaza. The most deadly strikes were in the northern city of Jabalia, where more than 30 people died and at least eight were injured in an overnight offensive.
The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli strikes had also hit the upper floors of the Indonesian Hospital in nearby Beit Lahiya.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer this weekend called on the international community to ‘make the most’ of Sinwar’s death and make a renewed push for peace.
Joining US, French and German counterparts, Mr Starmer said the leader’s death offered an ‘opportunity’ to step up ceasefire talks that have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.
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