Israel completed preparations for potential war with Iran, says defense minister

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said on Sunday that Israel has completed its preparations to respond to any possible scenario against Iran days after Iran’s consular building in Damascus had been subjected to a bombing.

This came in light of Israeli preparedness for Iran's response to the assassination of several Revolutionary Guard officials in Damascus, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

“The defense system has finished preparations for a response against any scenario that may develop with Iran," said Gallant at an assessment conducted at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.

At least seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including two top generals, were killed on April 1 in an attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus.

Iran has accused Israel of carrying out the attack and vowed to respond.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack.

The escalation in tensions came as Israel waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack in early October by Hamas killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,100 Palestinians have since been killed and over 75,800 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi