6/8/2024–|Last update: 6/8/202405:11 PM (Makkah Time)
The mayor of Kiryat Shmona said on Tuesday that 9 million Israelis are living in a state of panic and under threat as the northern Israeli front flares up due to attacks by the Lebanese Hezbollah, amid Israeli anticipation of an Iranian response.
The mayor added that Israel must launch a preemptive strike against Iran, following his statement the day before yesterday, Sunday. He called for burning Beirut Tehran, in what it called a preemptive attack, “restores deterrence to Israel.”
Today, Nahariya City Hospital announced that the number of people injured in the explosion of a Hezbollah drone in the Western Galilee has risen to 19, one of whom is in critical condition, while Israeli media confirmed that one person was killed in the explosion of a drone launched by Hezbollah that fell on a car in the city.
This was accompanied by Israel launching raids on several sites in southern Lebanon, and the occupation army announcing that its warplanes had launched a raid on what it called a “Hezbollah military building” in the Nabatieh region in southern Lebanon, while the party is bombing several settlements, including Kiryat Shmona, which it had previously targeted with dozens of missiles.
In turn, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported in a statement today that 5 people were killed in two Israeli airstrikes that targeted a house in the town of Meifdoun in southern Lebanon, following the killing of 3 people yesterday, Monday, in Israeli raids, including a paramedic and two fighters who were mourned by Hezbollah.
Anticipation and condemnation
This comes as international calls for de-escalation escalate, amid expectations of a broad military confrontation between Iran and Israel following Israel's assassination of Hezbollah military commander Fouad Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the assassination of the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Iran has announced that it will respond to Haniyeh's assassination, with Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami saying on Monday that Israel will receive a “decisive blow at the right time and place.
Israel has repeatedly reiterated what it describes as its military readiness to confront the Iranian response, in addition to talk about Possibilities of “preemptive strikes” against Iran and Hezbollah, while the United States announced that it will send more fighter jets and warships to the Middle East as regional tensions escalate.
On the other hand, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the continued state of tension in Israel, blaming the government, saying, “Is it reasonable for an entire country to remain in a state of alert, tension and mobilization for 5 days?
In turn, the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, said, “There is no reason to wait for the other side to attack Israel. The initiative must always be in our hands.”
Israeli pessimism
This is in line with what was shown by a poll whose results were published by the newspaper “Israel Today” and conducted by the “Jewish Influence” Center on basic issues in light of the conditions witnessed in Israel, and it reveals that 71% of Israelis are pessimistic about the coming months and the nature of life, while 29% are thinking about emigrating abroad.
While 73% of those surveyed support expanding the war with Lebanon, 50% of Israelis were harmed or have a relationship with someone who was harmed during the war on the Gaza Strip, 55% of activists demand a prisoner exchange deal and the return of prisoners and detainees, while 84% expressed dissatisfaction with Israel’s diplomatic reality in the world.