TEL AVIV — Israeli strikes early Sunday killed 12 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced people inside a hospital complex, while a stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb.
Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate strikes in Lebanon and Iran last week. Those killings brought threats of revenge from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war.
Israel is bracing for a potential multiday attack by Iran and Hezbollah, with waves of missiles and drones fired over an extended period, an Israeli official told NBC News.
“They’ll just try to wear us out,” the official said.
Israeli strikes early Sunday killed 12 people in Gaza, including four who were sheltering in a tent camp for displaced people inside a hospital complex, while a stabbing attack carried out by a Palestinian killed two people in a Tel Aviv suburb.
Tensions have soared following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza and the killing of two senior militants in separate strikes in Lebanon and Iran last week. Those killings brought threats of revenge from Iran and its allies and raised fears of an even more destructive regional war.
A woman in her 70s and an 80-year-old man were killed in the stabbing attack, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service and a nearby hospital, and two other men were wounded. The police said the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant, who was “neutralized,” and that a search was underway for other suspects.
The rescuers said the wounded were found in three different locations, each about 500 yards apart, adding to concerns that more than one assailant was involved.
Itamar Ben–Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister of national security, paid tribute to the “heroic policeman” on the scene, and urged Israelis to carry arms.
“This is exactly why we armed the people of Israel: more than 150,000 gun licenses in the last eight months,” he said.
The incident inflamed a rift between the minister and centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid, who called Ben-Gvir a “complete and pathetic failure,” saying the streets had been “flooded with murders” since he took office.
“By all measures, personal security is plummeting, and the police are at an all-time low,” he posted on X. “The only thing he does is interviews, gimmicks, and provocations from morning till night.”
When Iran attacked Israel on April 13 — in response to the bombing of its embassy in Damascus — it fired 300 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones in tight volleys so the different projectiles would reach Israel simultaneously. The vast majority were intercepted by Israeli and U.S. forces, while Hezbollah largely stayed out of the fight.
This time, the Israeli official said the attacks could come over several days, with Hezbollah attacking Israel from the north while Iran’s longer-range weapons are fired from the east.
The Israeli official described a phone call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu on Thursday as “tense.” The official would not comment on Israeli media reports that Biden told Netanyahu “stop bullshitting me.”
The call came a day after the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Biden has said publicly that the killing was not helpful for Gaza cease-fire talks.
“There is strong U.S. pressure to reach a cease-fire. Biden wants it to happen during his time in office,” the official said, adding that Israeli negotiators were in Cairo on Saturday for continuing negotiations but left without a breakthrough.
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