In a move that further alarmed the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, was attempting to kill him. Israel had pledged reprisal for an Iranian missile bombardment.

According to Netanyahu’s office, a drone was fired on Saturday night towards his home in the central town of Caesarea; however, neither he nor his wife were there at the time, and no one was hurt.

Netanyahu stated in a statement, “The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake.”

“Anyone who attempts to cause harm to Israel’s citizens will face severe consequences,” he declared, addressing Tehran and “its proxies,” which encompass Hezbollah in Lebanon, an organisation with which Israel has been at war since late September.

The prime minister was targeted by a drone that “hit a building in Caesarea,” according to military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel has promised to launch a “deadly, precise, and surprising” strike in response to Iran’s October 1 missile bombardment, in addition to conducting a two-front war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Iran declared that in retaliation for the death of Iranian commander and head of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, it fired 200 missiles at its most formidable adversary.

In the north of the enclave, where Israel continued to hit terrorist targets while battling Hezbollah in Lebanon, a massive Israeli military operation has killed over 400 Palestinians in two weeks, according to a statement released on Saturday by Gaza’s civil defence organisation.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, promised on Saturday to further up its missile barrages against Israel, where rescuers reported that one man had been killed by shrapnel.

After more than a year of combat that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 invasion, Israeli soldiers murdered Yahya Sinwar, the head of the Palestinian organisation, in Gaza. Hamas, Hezbollah, and other allied factions supported by Iran have promised to continue fighting.

Experts indicated that Sinwar, who is suspected of planning that assault on Israel, played a key role in bringing an end to the Gaza conflict and obtaining the release of the Israeli prisoners.

On October 6, Israel unleashed a massive air and military assault, extending its stranglehold on the war-torn region and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate as it vowed to prevent Hamas terrorists from gathering in northern Gaza.

Since the start of the Israeli assault, “we have recovered more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip,” including Jabalia and its refugee camp, according to civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal.

According to Bassal, “there are dozens of bodies scattered in the streets of Jabalia,” therefore the true death toll may be greater.

When reached by AFP, the Israeli military stated it was investigating allegations from the civil defence agency in Gaza, including the claim that 33 people were killed in an airstrike on Jabalia overnight.

Outside a hospital in Deir el-Balah where victims of an Israeli air strike were being treated, displaced Gazan Nasser Shaqura declared, “More than a year has passed, and every day our blood is shed.”

He declared, “There is a massacre every day, every hour.” “This is the state of our lives right now.”