On the second day of Israel’s unprecedented attack against Iran, the confrontation between both states has escalated to all-out war as Iran launched its retaliation with volleys of rockets on Israel.
On Friday morning, Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran, bombing hundreds of locations across the country, including the capital, Tehran. The attack killed top military leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, at least six nuclear scientists, and scores of civilians, including at least 20 children. Iran began its retaliatory attacks late on Friday night, with a first volley of 100 missiles that targeted coastal areas, especially the greater Tel Aviv area. Iranian missiles continued to fly into Israeli airspace through the night in five different volleys, the last of which was reported at around 5 a.m. local time.
While Israeli air defense systems intercepted a number of missiles, many others hit their targets, especially in Tel Aviv’s center and the Ramat Gan area, where Israeli media reported that at least seven buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed. One of the missiles was reported to have hit “a strategic location” in Tel Aviv. Iranian media reported that the strike had targeted the Israeli Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Iranian missiles also struck the city of Rishon Lezion in the central coastal area, south of Tel Aviv, where the city’s mayor told Israeli media that he “had never seen such destruction” before in Israel. According to Israeli media reports, the missile attacks in Rishon Lezion destroyed entire houses and left Israelis trapped under the rubble.
Following the night attacks, the spokesperson of the Iranian army said that Iran was going to continue its missile attacks and threatened to fire 2,000 missiles in the next round. Simultaneously, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Aragchi, was reported to have told British Foreign Minister David Lammy that calls on Iran to show self-restraint were “unjustified.”
Meanwhile, Israel announced that it continued to strike Iran for the second day in a row, claiming that Israeli fighter jets had destroyed an Iranian nuclear facility in Isfahan and had destroyed Iranian air defenses, rendering Iranian airspace accessible for Israeli air forces.
Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, threatened to “burn Tehran” on Saturday if Iran continues to attack Israel. Later on Saturday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that Israel had destroyed Iranian nuclear reactors and killed Iranian nuclear scientists, which the Israeli Prime MInister said had set the Iranian nuclear program “years back.”
Only a day into Israel’s new war, Western attitudes toward Israel reverted to its traditional tone of unconditional support, after pressure had begun to mount on Israel in order to end its onslaught in Gaza.
Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that French President Emmanuel Macron told Netanyahu in a phone call that he had decided to suspend the French-initiated international conference for the two-state solution, which had been scheduled for June 17 in New York.
France had called to organize what it called a “civil conference” in an effort to advance a “political solution” for the Palestine question. Although two French officials told Israelis during a visit to Israel in early June that Paris did not intend to use the conference to “unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state,” the organization of the conference came amid European moves to pressure Israel into ending its war on Gaza, especially after the severe deterioration of the humanitarian conditions in the Strip as a result of Israel’s blockade and aid manipulation. On Saturday, Macron said that France would defend Israel if it is attacked by Iran.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israel continued to block movement between West Bank governorates, fully closing checkpoints on main roads and blocking movement in and out of the territory. Israel also continues to close the Allenby bridge border crossing with Jordan, the only access point to the outside world for West Bank Palestinians.
In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 27 Palestinians, including through drone strikes that killed starving Palestinians waiting to receive aid at Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s centers, according to Palestinian medical sources in Gaza.