From 1 Oct 2024 22.24 BST Iran made ‘big mistake’ with missile attack – Netanyahu Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has now spoken out on the missile attack on Israel by Iran a little earlier on Tuesday. Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it. Whoever attacks us, we attack them,” he said, as he gathered his security cabinet for a meeting late Tuesday. The Israeli military says it has received no reports of injuries from the Iranian missile attack.

The military’s spokesperson, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, said the country’s air defenses intercepted many of the incoming missiles, though some landed in central and southern Israel. This strike will have consequences,” he said. He urged the public to continue to listen to public-safety guidelines from the army. Share Updated at 22.43 BST

2 Oct 2024 05.04 BST Closing summary This live blog is closing shortly, but our live coverage of the events in the Middle East will continue here. Here’s a summary of where things stand as the region wakes up: Israel launched strikes across Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Wednesday , with the Israeli military issuing multiple evacuation orders for buildings in Beirut, saying it was targeting Hezbollah sites.

The strikes came hours after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel, in a dramatic intensification of a conflict that some fear could escalate into a regional war. Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his security cabinet that “Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it.”

The Israeli military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, spoke on television reacting to what the country called the “serious attack” on Israel by Iran today . Hagari, the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), pledged that the attack “will have consequences”. He added that the country remained on high alert.

There continues to be very little information about how much damage Iran’s missile attack on Israel caused. In its attack on Tuesday, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles, Israel’s government said. No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said. Images show missiles fallen in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Late on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran’s action was “concluded unless Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation” . In a statement on X, he said: “Israel’s enablers now have a heightened responsibility to rein in the warmongers in Tel Aviv instead of getting involved in their folly.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, gave the order to launch missiles at Israel, a senior Iranian official told Reuters , adding that Tehran “is fully ready for any retaliation”. Meanwhile, the Iranian mission to the United Nations has defended the country’s missile launches against Israel today, calling it a response to “terrorist acts” by Israel.

US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea took down multiple missiles launched by Iran, US defence officials said . The UK defence secretary, John Healey, said that British forces “played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East”.

Six people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting and knife attack on the Israeli seaside city of Jaffa that occurred minutes before Iran launched its attack. Five of the wounded were described as being in a serious condition. CCTV footage showed two men, reportedly armed with an assault rifle and a knife, dressed in black emerging from a train near the light-rail stop along Jerusalem Boulevard where they opened fire on passersby as well as on a second nearby street. Share

2 Oct 2024 04.49 BST US defence secretary tells Israeli counterpart Iran attack an ‘outrageous act of aggression’ The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said he spoke with the Israeli minister of defence, Yoav Gallant, telling him that the attack from Iran was an “outrageous act of aggression”. The Minister and I expressed mutual appreciation for the coordinated defense of Israel against nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched by Iran and committed to remain in close contact. I spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today following today’s outrageous act of aggression by Iran against Israel. The Minister and I expressed mutual appreciation for the coordinated defense of Israel against nearly 200 ballistic missiles launched by Iran and… — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) October 2, 2024 Share

2 Oct 2024 04.30 BST It’s 6.30am in Beirut. Live footage being broadcast by Reuters shows smoke continuing to hang over the Lebanese capital. Overnight Israel launched at least five strikes on the city’s southern suburbs, with reports of fires breaking out in several locations. It’s currently unclear if there were any casualties as a result of Wednesday morning’s attack, but according to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 55 people were killed across the country on Tuesday. Share

2 Oct 2024 04.09 BST IDF solider injured in Jaffa shooting on Tuesday The IDF has announced that a soldier was seriously injured in Tuesday’s shooting and knife attack on the Israeli city of Jaffa. The wounded soldier was evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital and her family was informed. חיילת צה״ל נפצעה באורח קשה אתמול, בפיגוע הטרור בעיר תל אביב-יפו.

החיילת שנפצעה פונתה לקבלת טיפול רפואי בבית חולים ומשפחתה עודכנה — צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 2, 2024 Six people were killed and 10 wounded in the attack on the Israeli seaside city of Jaffa that occurred minutes before Iran launched its huge missile attack. Five of the wounded were described as being in a serious condition. It was unclear whether the Israeli soldier was among the numbers. Share

2 Oct 2024 04.04 BST Air raid alerts in northern Israel Air defence alerts have been activated in Misgav Am, a town in Israel’s north that sits right on the border with Lebanon. Share

2 Oct 2024 03.53 BST Flydubai said it has cancelled flights to Jordan, Iraq, Israel and Iran on 2-3 October. In a statement to Reuters, the airline said the cancellations were due to the temporary closure of a number of airspaces. Share

2 Oct 2024 03.31 BST Japan’s new prime minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the missile attacks by Iran on Israel “unacceptable”. Iran’s attack is unacceptable. We will condemn this strongly. But at the same time, we would like to cooperate to defuse the situation and prevent it from escalating into a full-on war.” Share

2 Oct 2024 03.15 BST As we just reported, the scale of the damage on Israel after Iran’s ballistic missile attack remains unclear. No injuries have been reported in Israel, but one person was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said. There are however multiple images of craters in central and southern Israel. PBS foreign affairs and defense correspondent, Nick Schifrin posted this report from close to the Mossad headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, showing a large crater. Outside Mossad HQ, 1050p local: pic.twitter.com/r0iiN6E9O8 — Nick Schifrin (@nickschifrin) October 1, 2024 Share

2 Oct 2024 02.55 BST How much damage did Iran’s missile attack on Israel cause? There continues to be very little information about how much damage Iran’s missile attack on Israel caused. In its attack on Tuesday, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles, Israel’s government said. Some of the missile fired by Iran were hypersonic Fattah missiles, with a maximum speed estimated at 10,000mph. According to the Revolutionary Guards, 90% of its missiles successfully hit their targets. Israel however says most missiles were intercepted by its air defence and that statement appears to be backed up by comments from the UK and US who played a role in Israel’s defence. Images from central Israel show officials inspecting an impact crater. View image in fullscreen Israeli officials secures the site where a missile fired from Iran towards Israel hit a school building. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said. Images show missiles fallen in Ramallah, in the West Bank. View image in fullscreen Palestinian youths inspect a fallen projectile in Ramallah. Photograph: Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images The IDF’s Daniel Hagari said there were “a small number” of hits. The Israeli military published video of a school in the central city of Gadera that was heavily damaged by an Iranian missile. View image in fullscreen Members of Israel’s home front inspect a crater at a school in Gedera. Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images In Hebron in the West Bank, a fallen projectile was moved to the centre of a square where people posed for pictures with it. View image in fullscreen Photos are taken in front of a fallen projectile in Hebron. Photograph: Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images Share

2 Oct 2024 02.33 BST Julian Borger The forces of restraint in the Middle East are weakening with every passing day. Politically speaking, the Biden administration cannot be seen as tying Israel’s hands in the face of an Iranian attack on Israeli cities. The Iranian regime (the IRGC in particular) is feeling the pressure to show its regional proxies and allies, from Hezbollah to the Houthis in Yemen, that it is not a weakling but a regional power of substance, the leader of the “axis of resistance”. Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has a freer hand. With Iranian missiles over Tel Aviv, it is far harder for Washington to try to influence his actions, and much tougher for the prime minister’s opponents to call for his ousting. Today, Netanyahu is also significantly closer to his longstanding ambition: to involve the US in a war on Iran which will destroy its nuclear programme, now close to the capacity to make a weapon after the collapse of the 2015 multilateral agreement, the JCPOA, which kept the programme within limits. In such dangerous times, the region has historically looked to Washington to contain and reverse the logic of escalation. But the man currently inhabiting the Oval Office is a lame duck president who has been ignored to the point of humiliation in recent months by the US’s closest ally in the Middle East. There have long been voices in the US defence establishment calling for the US to act preemptively against the Iranian nuclear programme. Those will now increase in an effort to influence a president who has vowed to defend Israel against the Iranian threat. Biden’s administration has generally been cautious when it comes to military ventures abroad, and Kamala Harris is expected to follow a similar path, with less of a sentimental attachment to Israel. But the escalating violence in the Middle East will damage her chances of succeeding Biden in the White House, and bring closer the prospect of the return of the greatest wild card of all, Donald Trump. Missile attack on Israel signals that widely feared regional conflict has ignited Read more Share

2 Oct 2024 02.23 BST In the United States, vice-presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance are facing off in the first VP debate of this election. The first question was about the current issues in the Middle East; both candidates were asked whether they would support or oppose a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran. Walz said Israel’s ability to defend itself is “absolutely fundamental” and said “steady leadership” is fundamental. Walz noted that Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, said the president was “the most flawed human being he’d ever met” and that Trump’s secretaries of defence and his national security advisers “said he should be nowhere near the White House”. View image in fullscreen JD Vance And Tim Walz in New York. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images For his part, Vance said Donald Trump “consistently made the world more secure” and that Trump, as president, recognised that “you needed peace through strength”. Vance said that it is up to Israel to do what they need to do to keep their country safe, adding “we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys.” You can follow the debate live here. Vance-Walz debate live: VP candidates grilled on Middle East, climate crisis and immigration Read more Share

2 Oct 2024 02.17 BST Emmanuel Macron calls on Israel to end operation in Lebanon ‘as soon as possible’ Emmanuel Macron has condemned Iran’s attack on Israel and said France mobilised its “military resources in the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat.” France’s president also called on Israel to end its military operations in Lebanon “as soon as possible.” In a statement from the Élysée Palace, Macron said too many civilians were already victims and that “Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” should be restored. The Head of State also reiterated France’s demand that Hezbollah cease its terrorist actions against Israel and its population.” The Élysée said France would soon organise a conference in “support of the Lebanese people and their institutions.” Le chef de l’État a présidé un Conseil de défense et de sécurité nationale sur la situation au Liban et les récents développements de la crise au Moyen-Orient. Le communiqué :https://t.co/VzeVGdLCjA — Élysée (@Elysee) October 1, 2024 Share

2 Oct 2024 02.00 BST Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, will lead the Friday prayer in Tehran this week and deliver a sermon that is expected to set the tone for Iran’s strategy against Israel, New York Times journalist Farnaz Fassihi has reported. Fassihi notes that Khamenei only does this “under extraordinary circumstances”. Ayatollah Khamenei will lead the Friday prayer in Tehran this week and deliver a sermon that is expected to set the tone for Iran’s strategy against Israel and retaliation, He only does this under extraordinary circumstances, the last time was 2020 after killing Gen. Sulaimani. — Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) October 1, 2024 Share

2 Oct 2024 01.55 BST Crude futures rose 1.56% on fears of oil supply disruptions in the Middle East. Brent gained 2.6%. Iran, a member of the organization of the petroleum exporting countries (Opec), is a major oil producer in the region. “The direct involvement of Iran, an OPEC member, raises the prospect of disruptions to oil supplies,” ANZ Research said in a note, referring to the conflict. Share

Here are the latest updates on day 630 of the war:

■ Rabbis and other public figures from the Jewish community in Iran have been arrested on suspicion of having ties to Israel, according to the Collectif Femme Azadi, an organization representing Iranian women in exile. The group said that the accusations of collaboration with Israel lack any evidentiary basis.

■ Violent clashes broke out between Hamas forces and armed members of the Barbakh clan near Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis, resulting in several casualties following a gun battle.

■ Israeli fighter jets carried out airstrikes targeting military sites belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said Friday. The site was part of an underground Hezbollah project that had been targeted by the military in the past, and recent efforts to rebuild it were detected in recent days.

■ Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that a woman was killed and 11 people were wounded, following an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

■ Medical sources in the Gaza Strip reported that at least 26 people were killed Friday morning as a result of Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire in several areas across the Strip.

■ Senior Trump administration officials have urged Israel to send its negotiation team to Cairo next week to advance talks with Hamas, a source who spoke to several officials in recent days told Haaretz.

■ IDF chief: Israel set back Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs, eliminated people leading “the effort to destroy Israel.”

■ The U.S. State Department announced it will provide $30 million in funding to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Piggot urged other nations to join the U.S. in supporting the organization.

■ The Trump administration is considering offering several incentives to Iran to secure its return to the negotiating table. Incentives include $30 billion in support for a civilian energy program, the easing of sanctions, and the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian funds, according to four sources familiar with the proceedings, as reported to CNN.

President Joe Biden has promised Israel “ironclad” US support amid fears that Tehran could launch reprisals for an attack that killed senior Iranians.

President Joe Biden has promised Israel “ironclad” US support amid fears that Tehran could launch reprisals for an attack that killed senior Iranians.

Mr Biden warned that Iran is threatening to launch a “significant attack” after Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Syria 10 days ago.

“We’re going to do all we can to protect Israel’s security,” he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s leader said the Israeli attack in Damascus was equivalent to an attack on Iran itself.

“When they attacked our consulate area, it was like they attacked our territory,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech.

“The evil regime must be punished, and it will be punished.”

It is unclear what form any reprisal attack would take.

For Iran to strike Israel directly would risk an even greater escalation in the conflict, and analysts have said Iran does not have the military capability for a significant confrontation.

A possible alternative is an attack via an Iranian proxy like Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel across the border from Lebanon almost daily since 8 October. Those exchanges have intensified in recent weeks.

“Hezbollah is very capable, hundreds of thousands of rockets and missiles there, on the border that can reach all the way into southern Israel,” Joe Buccino, former Communications Director at the US military’s Central Command, told the BBC.

“Hezbollah is much more capable than Hamas. So they’d have the capability to do significant damage into Israel.”

On Sunday an Iranian official warned Israel’s embassies were “no longer safe”, suggesting a consulate building could be a possible target.

Experts have also suggested Iran could target Israel with a cyberattack.

Thirteen people were killed in the 1 April attack on the Iranian consulate building, including senior Iranian military leaders. Among them was Brig-Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but is widely considered to have been behind it.

US and Israeli forces in the region have been put on high alert in the days since. Last week the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) cancelled leave for soldiers serving with combat units and called up reservists to bolster air defence units.

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz responded on social media to Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments by saying if Tehran attacked from its territory, Israel would react and “attack in Iran”.

Meanwhile the head of US forces in the region, Gen Michael Kurilla, is to discuss the threat of a possible Iranian attack in talks with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and army Chief of Staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi in Israel on Thursday, according to Israeli media reports.

Mr Biden’s remarks came as he was speaking to journalists at the White House on Wednesday alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“As I told Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad – let me say it again, ironclad,” Mr Biden said.

His comments come one day after an interview, recorded a week ago, was aired in which Mr Biden urged Mr Netanyahu to “just call for a ceasefire” in Gaza and in which he said he disagreed with the prime minister’s war strategy.

“I think what he’s doing is a mistake. I don’t agree with his approach,” he said in the interview with US network Univision.

It also comes days after a tense phone call between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu in the wake of the Israeli killing of seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.

Mr Biden has sharpened his rhetoric over Israel’s conduct in the nearly six-month-old war sparked by Hamas’s 7 October attack, and voiced his growing frustration with Mr Netanyahu. Iran backs Hamas and Iranian officials have praised the attack in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken to Gaza as hostages.

US officials have been attempting to send a message to the Iranians that, despite differences of opinion between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu, any attack on Israel will met with an aggressive US response.

In an effort to ease tensions, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Iraq spoke to their Iranian counterpart this week, according to Axios.

The ministers were asked to convey a message from Mr Biden’s senior Middle East advisor, Brett McGurk, about the need to de-escalate.

According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 33,000 people – mostly women and children – have been killed in the Israeli offensive, which was triggered by Hamas’s attack.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.