(Bloomberg) — A day after a Hezbollah drone penetrated Israel’s air defenses and exploded next to the private home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he held a series of meetings with top security aides to discuss the next attack on Iran.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The planning for such an assault has been underway for three weeks since Iran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at Israel following Israeli assassinations of leaders of Iran-sponsored militias.
Saturday’s precise drone attack on Netanyahu’s coastal home north of Tel Aviv stunned many Israelis. While neither Netanyahu nor his wife were home and no one was injured, he and his ministers said it was another reason retaliation is warranted.
“There is no doubt that another red line has been crossed here,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 14 on Saturday night. “We must defeat Iran’s ability to pose a threat.”
Even as Israel weighed its next move against Iran, the head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, traveled to Egypt to discuss the prospects of renewing cease-fire negotiations with Hamas, according to an Israeli official.
It was the first meeting between security chiefs to take place since the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by the Israeli Army last Thursday. No further information was made available on the outcome of the meeting.
US President Joe Biden and his administration have said over the past days that Sinwar’s killing should serve to speed up talks and domestic pressure on Netanyahu has also ramped up to do the same — though hardliners aligned with Netanyahu oppose concessions.
Iran’s Denial
While Iran awaits Israel’s attack — and has vowed to hit back even harder — it made a point of denying involvement in the Saturday drone assault on Netanyahu’s home in the town of Caesarea.
The retaliation has taken longer than many expected, perhaps because of coordination between the US and Israel. Washington is urging Israel to avoid hitting either energy or nuclear installations and has sent Israel sophisticated anti-ballistic missile defense weapons for if and when Iran hits back.
An apparently leaked Pentagon document over the weekend detailed some of Israel’s preparations for such an attack. The leak, the authenticity of which wasn’t verified, appeared on the Telegram account of a pro-Iranian group called Middle East Spectator.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said that while it takes into account what the US advises, Israel makes its own decisions. It’s unclear when a decision will be reached or when retaliation will occur. Energy Minister Eli Cohen told Channel 14, “There is no facility, whether military or civilian, nor any person in Iran that is immune. None of them sleeps well at night.”
Donald Trump, the former US president running in next month’s election, told a campaign rally that Netanyahu had called him and said that after Israel’s recent assassinations of militia leaders, it was in a much better position to fight back against Iran and its proxies.
Netanyahu’s Sunday planning for the attack on Iran, first with close advisers and then with his security cabinet, came at the end of another day of intense military activity both in Lebanon and in Gaza. Hezbollah sent scores of projectiles at Israel’s north.
Late Sunday, Israel launched a military operation targeting Hezbollah economic strongholds, in particular a financial institution used by the Iran-backed militant group and its leadership.
The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings to civilians as it sought to hit targets associated with the Al Qard Al Hassan Association, which serves as Hezbollah’s alternative banking system and allows the Shi’ite group to function. It operates outside of Lebanon’s legal banking system.
The Israeli military also said it struck a command center for Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and an underground weapons workshop in Beirut.
In northern Gaza, health authorities said an Israeli strike overnight in the town of Beit Lahia killed dozens. The Israeli military disputed the toll but said it was pursuing Hamas operatives who’d reconstituted themselves in that area. More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the yearlong war triggered when Hamas operatives swarmed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 and abducting 250.
Some 100 hostages remain in Gaza, perhaps half of them alive, and Israel is offering rewards to Gazans to help return them.
Israel’s killing of Sinwar, the Hamas leader, was viewed by many as a potential turning point, a moment when fighting might yield to negotiation and diplomacy. But in the days since, combat has intensified with Hezbollah and Hamas. Both are considered terrorist organizations by the US and other countries.
Meanwhile, Israel expressed dismay that the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, offered condolences for Sinwar and described him as a martyr and “great national leader.”
Sinwar was the architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion and slaughter. Abbas and the Authority are viewed by much of the world as moderate alternatives to Hamas, willing to live in peace with Israel if granted a state, whereas Hamas is openly dedicated to Israel’s destruction. Netanyahu and his government say Abbas and his Authority are, in fact, no less hostile or violent in their view of the Jewish state.
“We aren’t surprised,” Netanyahu’s diplomatic adviser, Ophir Falk, said of the PLO’s statement. “They never condemned the October 7 massacre and they have a long history of praising mass murderers of Jews.”
–With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, Dan Williams and Sherif Tarek.
(Updates with attacks on Hezbollah economic strongholds in 14th paragraph.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.