Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to punish Iran after a Hezbollah drone attempted to “assassinate” him and his wife at their weekend residence.
The drone caused little damage to the residence in the coastal city of Cesearea, and both he and his wife were out when it struck, the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement.
In a statement on Saturday night, Mr Netanyahu said the “attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake”.
“This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future.
“I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price,” he added.
The attack marked the first time a target directly affiliated with the Israeli leader had been hit since the start of the war.
Israeli security officials described the incident as a worrying breach of the nation’s defences. The Iron Dome, which Israel relies upon to shoot down barrages of missiles from Gaza and Lebanon, is less effective against slow, low-flying drones.
After news of the strike broke, Mr Netanyahu released a video in which he walks casually through a field.
“Prime minister, how is it going?” the cameraman asks.
He responds: “Well 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.
“We’re continuing our battle with Iran’s other terrorist proxies – we’re going to win this war.”
Sinwar, thought to be the architect of Hamas’s Oct 7 attacks, was shot in the head and killed on Wednesday during a chance encounter with Israeli troops.
“So will something deter you?” Mr Netanyahu is asked in the video, making no direct reference to the drone strike.
“No,” he replies.
Analysts believe the drone may have been a Sayyad-107, which was also used to hit the training base of the Golani Brigade in Binyamina.
Meanwhile, a barrage of at least 115 projectiles was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday as Israeli emergency services said one man, around 50 years old, was killed by shrapnel.
A car also smashed into an Israeli police vehicle near Ofra, in the West Bank, according to footage shared by the Israeli government. The driver died but no officers were injured.
The attacks came as Israel dropped leaflets over southern Gaza showing a picture of the slain Hamas chief Sinwar with the message: “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza.”
“Whoever drops their weapon and hands over the hostages will be allowed to leave and live in peace,” the leaflet read in Arabic, according to residents of the southern city of Khan Younis.
IDF strikes killed at least 32 people across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, and the army tightened its siege around hospitals to the north of the enclave in Jabalia, the Hamas-run health service reported.
The Middle East continues to nervously await Israel’s retaliation to Iran’s attack in early October, in which Tehran launched more than 180 missiles in response to Israeli assassinations of senior Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders.
However, Joe Biden, the US president, said on Friday that he now has a good understanding of how and when Israel plan to respond to the ballistic missile attack.
Pushed by reporters on the prospect of “Middle East peace”, Mr Biden said he sees an “opportunity…that we can probably deal with Israel and Iran in a way that ends the conflict for a while… stops the back and forth”.
Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister responded to the comments on Saturday, saying anyone who knows “how and when Israel will attack Iran” should be held accountable.
On Saturday, a US intelligence assessment of Israel’s preparations for its coming strike on Iran were leaked online by a Telegram channel linked to Iran.
The US Department of Defense did not deny the document’s authenticity when approached by Israeli media and a senior Israeli official told Walla News that the security establishment was taking the leak very seriously.
Israel could also use the body of Sinwar, which is being held at a secret location, as a “bargaining chip” to exchange for the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, sources also said.
Israeli sources told CNN that hostage releases were likely to be the main priority in any discussions over how to leverage custody of his remains.
More than 100 people taken during Hamas’ Oct 7 attacks remain in captivity in Gaza and Mr Netanyahu is under intense domestic pressure to get them back.
“If Hamas wants to swap his remains for Israelis, dead or alive, then fine,” an Israeli diplomatic source said.
Daniel Birnbaum, the former CEO of SodaStream, offered $100,000 to anyone who returned an Israeli hostage alive on Saturday.
Mr Netanyahu promised that any Hamas terrorists who hand over Israeli captives will be allowed to leave Gaza alive.
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