Live: Israel ramps up strikes on Gaza after Iran attack

Hello Middle East Eye readers.

On Tuesday evening Middle East time, Iran launched a historic attack on Israel firing an estimated 180 missiles. This was Iran’s second direct attack on Israel in 2024, but unlike in April, Iran appeared to provide less advanced notice and attacked with fast moving ballistic missiles that reached Israel within 12 minutes of being fired, analysts said.

Iran targeted Israel’s Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv and military air-bases, according to reports. The US and Israel intercepted many of the missiles, but others were seen landing and exploding in Israel, including in Tel Aviv.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that Iran’s attack had been “defeated”. The US and Israel said there were no Israeli or American casualties, but one Palestinian man appeared to have been killed by falling debris.

A senior US official who spoke with Middle East Eye said Israel was still assessing the damage from strike. The US and Israel say they are coordinating a response. The attack raises the spectre of an all-out regional war erupting in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, moments before Iran launched its attack two gunmen opened fire at a light rail station in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, killing at least seven people and injuring 10 others. 

Other developments: 

• Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed credit for the attack
• Jordan, Iraq and Israel have reopened their airspace
• Oil prices surged five percent after Iran’s attack
• Media reports citing unnamed Iranian officials said Tehran informed the US of its missile attack on Israel 'shortly before' through diplomatic channels. US officials publicly denied this claim.
• Iraqi militias have threatened to target US forces if they help Israel retaliate against Iran
• Hamas released a statement praising Iran's attack on Israel with scenes of celebration in Gaza and southern Beirut
• Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the attack saying it was just the first blow against Israel
• Iran’s president hailed Tuesday's attack on Israel, calling it a “decisive response,” but said the Islamic Republic does not want war
• Iran’s military has prepared hundreds of additional missiles to launch from its western borders if Israel or the US attack Iran, The New York Times reported.

At least 55 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said, noting that over 150 were also wounded. 

 Iran’s decision to pursue strategic restraint against Israel was a strategic mistake that led on Tuesday night to the bombardment of more than 180 missiles on targets across Israel, Middle East Eye’s editor-in-chief, David Hearst writes, noting that the Islamic Republic is now pushing back against an emboldened Israel's bid to 'reshape' the region. 

Iran’s attack on Israel comes after Tehran and its allies went out of their way to avoid war with Israel, while their foe pushed to expand its war on Gaza across the region.

In hindsight, Iran's strategy to avoid being dragged into war proved to be a strategic mistake, for which Hezbollah is paying today - because it gave Israel the confidence to do what it is now doing to Lebanon, Hearst says.  

However, Israel is making an even bigger strategic blunder, believing it can redraw the balance of power in the Middle East.

“Nothing can persuade its Arab neighbours that Israel cannot live with them in peace more than the course on which Israel is currently set - a course that targets and threatens Christians, Muslims, Shia, and Sunni alike,” he writes.

“Netanyahu, more than anyone else, is persuading them that an Israel that behaves like this, does not belong to this region”.

READ MORE: The chaos Israel is sowing across the Middle East could come back to haunt it

Israeli strikes on Gaza killed at least 37 people on Tuesday, according to health officials there, even as the world’s attention turned to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.

At least 13 people, including women and children, were killed in two Israeli strikes on two houses in Nuseirat refugee camp, Palestinian health officials said.

Israeli strikes also killed at least seven people sheltering in a school in Gaza city, the officials said. 

Two people in Jordan were injured by shrapnel falling during Iran's missile attack on Israel, the country’s interior ministry has said.

Missile interceptions were reported over Jordan's skies during the attack. 

The interior ministry said shrapnel fell in the capital Amman, and the cities of Balqa, Zarqa, Madaba, and Karak.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called on Israel to act “now” to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme.

"Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East. The leadership of Iran, which used to be good at chess, made a terrible mistake this evening," he wrote on X.

"We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime," he said. 

Iran’s armed forces have vowed to retaliate against anyone who intervenes to help Israel respond to Iran’s missile attack.

“In the event of direct intervention by countries supporting the regime [Israel]… their centres and interests in the region will also face a powerful attack by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran's armed forces said in a statement carried by Fars news agency.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps carried out Tuesday's attack on Israel. 

Iran’s military has prepared hundreds of additional missiles to launch from its western borders if Israel or the US attack Iran, two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps told The New York Times.

Senior commanders in the IRGC convinced Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to approve Tuesday's attack on Israel in order to restore deterrence, the NYT reported.

During the deliberations, Iran’s new president, Massoud Pezeshkian, urged caution, but was overruled by the IRGC, the NYT reported, citing Iranian officials.

US President Joe Biden weighed in on Iran's attack on Israel. 

“The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.”

He added that he would soon speak with Netanyahu.

Iran’s president hailed Tuesday's attack on Israel, calling it a “decisive response” to Israel’s “aggressions”, but added that Iran does not want a wider war.

“This action was in defence of the interests and citizens of Iran,”  President Masoud Pezeshkian said on X.

“Let Netanyahu know that Iran does not seek war, but it stands firmly against any threat," he wrote, adding "Do not enter into a conflict with Iran". 

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has praised Iran’s attack on Israel, saying it was just the first blow against it.

“With God's help, the blows of the uprising front will become stronger and more painful on the worn and rotting body of the Zionist regime,” he said.

CNN has reported that Israel’s Mossad headquarters are located in a “densely populated area” in Tel Aviv, posing risks to civilians during Iran’s attack.

“The concern is if your firing, even though Iran might consider that a military target, it is in a densely populated city with civilians around it," CNN reported. 

The remarks raised questions on social media on why West did not accuse the intelligence agency of using Israeli civilians as "human shields", as they claim Hamas and Hezbollah do. 

“Insane, right? that's THEIR main argument in Gaza/Lebanon!” one social media user wrote.

“By the US/Israel's own logic, this is human shielding & every single Israeli in Tel Aviv is a legitimate target,” he said.

Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said that two US Navy destroyers, the USS Bulkeley and the USS Cole, fired approximately a dozen interceptor missiles in defence of Israel during Iran’s attack.

He warned those details could change.

Ryder said this attack was “twice the size, in terms of scope” of what we said earlier, apparently referencing Iran’s April attack on Israel.

Ryder said Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel and no cruise missiles or drones. He also refused to say whether Iran used a new type of ballistic missile. 

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Iran gave no warning of its attack on Israel.

"We had no warning from the government of Iran that they were going to launch such an attack," Miller said, adding it is "absolutely false".

The Pentagon also denied receiving a warning. 

Miller added that the US is not aware of “any civilian casualties” inside Israel or damage to US facilities in the region, following Iran’s attack on Israel.

Miller said the US was investigating reports of a Palestinian civilian killed in the occupied West Bank during the attack. 

Miller also reiterated US condemnation of Iran's attack, saying it was a “state-on-state attack to defend” groups the US considers terror organisations. 

Asked whether Israel sought to escalate fighting in the region, Miller said: “We have seen Israel expand the nature of its attacks on Hezbollah" but that was different than Iran's attack. 

US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said Iran’s attack on Israel was a “significant escalation” by Iran, but said it appeared no one has been killed by this attack.

Sullivan said Iran’s attack on Israel was “defeated” and that the US is discussing a potential retaliation with Israel.