Israel will respond strongly to any attack on it, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday after the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah leader in Beirut.
Netanyahu said Israel had dealt crushing blows to Iran’s proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, in recent days. However, he did not mention the killing of Haniyeh, which prompted threats of revenge against Israel and fueled further fears that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.
“Citizens of Israel, challenging days lie ahead. Since the strike in Beirut, there have been threats from all sides. Israel’s military announced late Tuesday that it had killed Fuad Shukr, whom it named as Hezbollah’s top commander and whom it blamed for a weekend attack that left a dozen dead in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Shukr was an adviser to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, according to Hezbollah sources and Israeli officials.
Iran-backed Hezbollah confirmed his death on Wednesday, hours after the Palestinian armed group Hamas said its leader Haniyeh had been assassinated in Tehran.
Although Israel was widely believed to have carried out the attack in Tehran, Netanyahu’s government has not claimed responsibility and said it would not comment on Haniyeh’s killing.