Israel vowed to respond to Iran's unprecedented attack, despite calls for restraint from the international community, including the United States, which fears an escalation of the war in Gaza that will spread throughout the Middle East.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated this Tuesday that His country will respond “severely” to “the slightest action” by Israel against “Iran's interests.”
Tehran launched an unprecedented attack against Israeli territory on Saturday night, which it described as an act of “self-defense” after the bombing of the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital on the 1st. April, an operation attributed to Israel in which seven Revolutionary Guards were killed.
The calls are multiplying to dissuade the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from launching a response that could stoke tensions in the Middle East, where Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip for more than six months.
The Israeli Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevi, promised this Monday that His country will respond to Iran, during a visit to the Israeli military base of Nevatim, in the south of the country, which was hit by the barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles.
A 'diplomatic offensive'
Israel announced this Tuesday that it launched a “diplomatic offensive” against Iran and called on 32 countries to impose sanctions against the Revolutionary Guard of the Islamic Republic and its missile program, declared Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
Israel claimed that it intercepted almost all of the missiles and drones with the help of the United States and other allies such as France and the United Kingdom.and countries in the region such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, according to the media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday urged the international community to “remain united” in the face of Iran's aggression, which he called a “threat” to world peace.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, indicated that wants to prevent the conflict from spreading in the Middle East and although Washington reiterated its unwavering support for Israel, it has already warned that it will not participate in retaliatory action.
The United Kingdom and France also distanced themselves and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Sunday that the Middle East is “on the brink of the abyss.”
The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 after the attack launched by Hamas in Israel, which left 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli data.
They also took 250 hostages, of whom 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 who are believed to have died, according to Israeli authorities.
In response, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas and launched an offensive that has already left 33,843 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory, governed by the Islamist group.
'Exercise restraint'
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and Tehran welcomed the Hamas attack, although it maintains that it was not informed in advance.
Iran had until now refrained from attacking Israel frontally and both countries had confronted each other indirectly, especially in operations involving Tehran's allies, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and Yemen's Houthi rebels.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Chinese state agency reported that Tehran is “willing to exercise restraint.”
This Tuesday, Israel continued bombing the Gaza Strip, a territory devastated by the conflict where its 2.4 million inhabitants suffer from shortages due to the Israeli siege imposed at the beginning of the war and are at risk of a “catastrophic” famine, according to the UN.
Netanyahu maintains his determination to launch an invasion against Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where 1.5 million overcrowded Palestinians live, most displaced by the war, despite warnings from the United States and other countries, which fear for civilians.
The war in Gaza aggravated violence in the West Bank and the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Israeli forces to “immediately” cease their support for settlers attacking Palestinians in this occupied territory.
Additionally, the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Palestinian Territories and Israel, chaired by Navi Pillay, accused Israeli authorities of “obstructing” its efforts to interview victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks.
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