Israel’s Security Cabinet convened on Thursday to discuss Israel’s response to last week’s barrage of about 200 ballistic missiles by Iran, which has left almost the entire country in fortified shelters.
Senior ministers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussed Israel’s overall plan for retaliation, according to two officials who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
The Cabinet is expected to give Mr. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the authority to initiate a response at their discretion, the people said. The results of the meeting were not made public.
Gallant posted a video on Wednesday saying that Israel’s attack on Iran would be “deadly, precise, and most of all, surprising.” He added: “They won’t understand what happened or how it happened. They’ll see the consequences.”
The Iranian attack earlier this month was carried out in retaliation for Israel’s killing of a senior member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and senior members of Iranian-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Ismail Haniyeh, one of Hamas’ political leaders, was assassinated in July while staying at a guesthouse in Tehran.
Most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, but a Palestinian man was killed by debris from an Iranian missile in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Two Israeli air bases also suffered minor damage, according to the Israeli military.
International mediators and the Biden administration are concerned that a major Israeli attack could stem from a broader conflict between Israel and Iran. The decades-long shadow war between the regional rivals ended in April after Israel attacked the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing at least three senior Revolutionary Guards commanders. escalated into direct action.
In response, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones into Israeli territory, nearly all of which were intercepted by Israel, the United States, and allies across the region. Israel carried out retaliatory strikes, damaging an S-300 anti-aircraft system near Natanz, a city in central Iran that is critical to the country’s nuclear weapons program.
Israeli officials have indicated that retaliation for future missile barrages will be harsher. But analysts still say neither side appears interested in all-out war.
