Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu has stated that Israel is 'preparing for scenarios outside Gaza' ahead of a possible Iranian retaliation after a senior general and six other Iranian officers were killed in an Iranian embassy strike in Syria
The airstrike on the embassy compound in Damascus killed a senior general and six other Iranian officers on April 1. In diplomatic circles, a military strike on an embassy is considered a strike on the embassy's nation soul.
Israel has not said it was responsible but Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that Israel "must be punished and it shall be" for the attack.
Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the Ayatollah's comments, saying they were "unacceptable" as he reaffirmed the UK's support for Tel Aviv's right to defend itself.
Netanyahu on Thursday , April 11 said his nation was "prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel" as troops and warplanes started an operation in central Gaza overnight which the military said was aimed at destroying infrastructure of armed Palestinian groups.
During a visit to the Tel Nof air force base in southern Israel Netanyahu said:
"We are in challenging times. We are in the middle of the war in Gaza that continues at full force, at the same time we continue our nonstop efforts to return our hostages.
"But we are also preparing for scenarios of challenges from other arenas. We established a simple principle - Whoever hurts us, we will hurt them.
"We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively."
Meanwhile Germany's Lufthansa airlines extended a suspension of its flights to Tehran on Thursday with the Middle East on alert for an Iranian retaliation.
Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian Airlines are the only two Western carriers flying into Tehran, which is mostly served by Turkish and Middle Eastern airlines.
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