TEL AVIV, Israel \u2014 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that the country \u201cis in a very high level of preparedness\u201d for efforts to avenge two assassinations in one night of leaders from Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena,\u201d Netanyahu said. He spoke after Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader led prayers over the coffin of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political chief killed in Tehran this week.<\/p>\n
Iranian state TV showed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading the start of the funeral procession before Haniyeh\u2019s coffin was driven into the city center, through crowds waving Palestinian flags while some onlookers called for revenge. Iran and Hamas say he was killed by Israel, which hasn\u2019t issued a denial and has vowed to kill all Hamas leaders since the group\u2019s attack on the country on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
In Beirut, a similar procession was held for a high-ranking member of Hezbollah, Fuad Shukr, who was killed in the Lebanese capital by an Israeli missile Tuesday, just hours before Haniyeh\u2019s death. Israel took responsibility for that one, saying it was in response to the killing of a dozen youths playing soccer in the Golan Heights on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Amid questions about how Israel managed to hit Haniyeh in Tehran, the New York Times reported that he was killed by a bomb smuggled several months earlier into the guesthouse where he was staying. It cited seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official, all of whom it said spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive details.<\/p>\n
Israeli officials wouldn\u2019t comment on that report. But the chief spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, may have indirectly corroborated it by saying that there was no airstrike \u201canywhere in the Middle East\u201d after the one that killed the Hezbollah commander in Beirut.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Biden administration used intermediaries to send warnings to Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen not to escalate, according to people familiar with U.S. policy. The U.S. also counseled Israel on the need for caution in its next steps, the people said. <\/p>\n
But pledges to respond for the two assassinations rang out \u2014 from Hamas, Hezbollah and their sponsor, Iran.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah\u2019s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said Thursday that the killings crossed his red line, saying the conflict now is an \u201copen battle on all fronts.\u201d <\/p>\n
But he stopped short of declaring the killings to be an act of war and said his group fights both in anger and with \u201clogic and wisdom,\u201d reflecting the group\u2019s declared intention not to widen the fighting with Israel.<\/p>\n
Khamenei had earlier said that Iran has a \u201cduty to seek vengeance\u201d for Haniyeh\u2019s death and Israel should expect a \u201csevere punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed other world leaders in warning of the heightened risk to the region of the developing hostilities, which began in October with the invasion of Israel by Hamas militants that triggered the ongoing and brutal 10-month war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, the path that the region is on is toward more conflict,\u201d Blinken said in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. \u201cIt\u2019s urgent that all parties make the right choices in the days ahead because those choices are the difference between staying on this path of violence, of insecurity, of suffering, or moving to something very different and much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. and others have been striving for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas for months without success, and Blinken said a deal remains the best way forward. A truce would likely see the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and allow for much-needed aid to be delivered into Gaza.<\/p>\n
Thursday marks the 300th day of the war between Israel and Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union. Fighting continues unabated, with Israeli\u2019s military reporting the striking of loaded launchers aimed at the country. On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes killed two journalists working for Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned network. <\/p>\n
Within Israel a debate has arisen over the wisdom of assassinations, which the military said now includes Mohammed Deif, Hamas\u2019s second in command, in a strike in Gaza last month. Some back the government\u2019s argument that they\u2019re an effective tool to deter and weaken groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and lead them to soften their negotiating positions.<\/p>\n
Writing in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, commentator Avi Issacharoff praised the killings and said, \u201cThe Palestinian public that celebrated Oct. 7 and the \u2018victory\u2019 over Israel has now come to see that Hamas too is vulnerable and fragile. That can\u2019t be hidden any longer; they can\u2019t bask in their victory over Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Michael Milshtein, a former intelligence officer who heads Palestinian studies at Tel Aviv University\u2019s Dayan Center, said in a radio interview that even though the killing of Haniyeh is an important symbolic act, the key player in Hamas remains Yahya Sinwar, believed to be somewhere in Gaza and who, he says, is far more radical than Haniyeh and may be emboldened without his influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incorrect to say that Hamas doesn\u2019t want a deal \u2014 but on its terms,\u201d Milshstein said. \u201cThe \u2018increased pressure\u2019 doesn\u2019t lead to softening of positions by Hamas. And we have to understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014With assistance from Daniel Flatley, Raeedah Wahid and Peter Martin.<\/p>\n
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