Iran on Thursday accused Israel of seeking to spread war in the Middle East, amid diplomatic efforts to ease regional tensions following the killing of Tehran-allied militant leaders.
Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri told AFP that Israel had made a “strategic mistake” by assassinating Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week – just hours after the killing of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut.
Although Israel has not acknowledged killing Haniyeh, Iran and its allies have vowed to retaliate, raising tensions in the region as the Gaza war enters its 11th month.
Bagheri said Israel “wants to spread tension, war and conflict to other countries”, but it has “neither the capability nor the strength” to fight Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a military base on Wednesday, said Israel was “prepared both defensively and offensively” and “determined” to defend itself.
Haniyeh’s group on Wednesday announced his successor – Yahya Sinwar, who Israel says played a key role in planning Hamas’ unprecedented October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war.
Analysts believe Sinwar – the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2017 – has been more reluctant to agree to a ceasefire and is closer to Tehran than Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar.
Fighting on the ground in Gaza continued on Thursday, with the Israeli military issuing a latest evacuation order and rescue workers and medics saying at least 13 people were killed in attacks.
‘Cycle of vengeance’
On Thursday, the front pages of some major Israeli newspapers carried “assessments” that Iran was reconsidering its course of action, allegedly due to US pressure.
Officials and leaders in the Middle East and beyond have called for calm. “We must see a de-escalation of tensions,” Britain’s international development minister Anneliese Dodds told AFP during a visit to Jordan.
The United States, which has sent additional warships and jets to the region, has urged both Iran and Israel to avoid escalating tensions.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Wednesday to his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian and later to Israel’s Netanyahu and asked both to “avoid a cycle of vengeance,” according to the French presidency.
Israeli military chief Harzai Halevi told troops that “we will not stop targeting the leaders of our most dangerous enemies” and vowed to “find” and “attack” Sinwar as well, according to an army statement.
Also on Wednesday, the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, declared that Israel was “fully responsible” for the “heinous” killing of Haniya.
Bagheri said OIC members have expressed support for the Iranian retaliation.
“Western countries, which claim to have asked Iran to limit its response … are in no position to advise the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
‘Mandatory’
The Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip has already drawn in Tehran-backed militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Lebanon’s Hamas ally Hezbollah, which has exchanged almost daily cross-border fire with Israeli troops during the Gaza war, has vowed to avenge the killing of military chief Fuad Shukr.
Israel said the attack in Beirut in which he was killed was a response to a deadly rocket attack from Lebanon on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last month.
And in Yemen, the Iran-backed Houthis said on Thursday that their retaliation for last month’s deadly Israeli attack on the Red Sea port of Hodeida “is inevitable and will happen”.
The Houthis, who have carried out sea attacks since November in solidarity with Gaza, claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Tel Aviv a day before the Hodeida assault.
A Lebanese government official told AFP on Thursday that “efforts are being made to calm the situation” across the region, including continued efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza after months of stalled talks.
“But we have to remain cautious, even though tensions have relatively eased in the last two days,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Several airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon due to security fears.
Israel’s prime minister apologized
The Hamas offensive that fueled the war in Gaza has killed 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage, 111 of whom are still held in Gaza, 39 of whom the Israeli military says are dead.
At least 39,699 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, though the ministry did not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Netanyahu, who has avoided apologizing for security failures in Israel’s worst ever attack, said in an interview published Thursday that he “deeply regrets that something like this happened.”
“You always look back and say, ‘Could we have done something to prevent this from happening?'” Netanyahu told Time magazine.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has issued a new order to evacuate parts of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza, telling Palestinians to flee locations “from which rockets are fired” at Israel.
At least five people were killed in an Israeli attack targeting a home in Khan Younis, the civil defence agency said.
In the north of the region, AFP journalists reported air strikes and continued shelling overnight in Gaza City, where medics said eight people were killed in two separate incidents.
On the diplomatic front, Israel’s decision to revoke the diplomatic status of Norway’s ambassadors to the Palestinian Authority due to “anti-Israel behaviour” sparked anger in Oslo.
“Today’s decision will have an impact on our relations with the Netanyahu government,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
