New Delhi: Explosions were heard and seen over the skies of Israel on Tuesday (October 1) evening after the Israeli military said that Iran had launched missiles toward Israel. Air raid sirens also went off in parts of the country.
Israelis were ordered to take shelter in safe spaces, but after two waves of missiles were seen in Israeli skies, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said “it was now possible to leave … protected area[s] in all areas of the country”.
“We are not aware of any casualties; this is thanks to your responsible conduct,” the BBC quoted Hagari as saying. It also reported at 11:45 pm India time that the attack appeared to be over.
Iran has acknowledged launching the attack on Israel, with the Associated Press citing Iranian state news as saying the country had launched dozens of ballistic missiles.
State-run news agency IRNA also cited the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying the attacks were in response to the “martyrdom” of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last weekend as well as Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in July.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli police said a shooting attack occurred in a Tel Aviv neighbourhood. Media reports citing the police pegged the death toll at six.
The New York Times said 12 people were injured in the attack that took place “shortly after” locals were urged to seek shelter from the Iranian missile attack.
The police has since said the attackers, whom it described as “terrorists”, “were neutralised by the security forces and a civilian”.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a man opened fire at people waiting at a rail station. The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said there were shootings in two locations.
An Israel Defense Force spokesman said over 200 projectiles had been identified at one point in the missile attack.
The military also said that the country’s airspace had been shut down following the waves of Iranian attacks.
Iran’s mission to the UN announced on X that “Iran’s legal, rational, and legitimate response to the terrorist acts of the Zionist regime – which involved targeting Iranian nationals and interests and infringing upon the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran – has been duly carried out.”
“If the Zionist regime reacts to Iran’s operation, it will face heavy attacks,” the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps also said.
The attack comes hours after Israel announced that it had begun ground raids in southern Lebanon.
On Saturday, Israel announced it had killed Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah organisation, in a Beirut strike on Friday.
Hezbollah began shelling areas in Israel near its border with Lebanon in solidarity with Hamas after the latter launched an attack on Israel on October 7 last year, killing around 1,200 people.
Hezbollah and Israel’s military have since been engaged in shooting in the border area.
In recent days Israel has killed multiple Hezbollah commanders and is believed to have executed an attack last month involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that killed over 40 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but also civilians and children.
Israel launched a massive offensive into Gaza, where Hamas is based, after its October 7 attack and is thought to behind the killing of its political leader Haniyeh on Iranian soil in July.
A day before the missile attack, two Indian navy ships and a coast guard ship entered southern Iran’s Bandar Abbas port for a training exercise. India’s ambassador to Iran met the governor general of Iran’s Hormozgan province.
With inputs from DW.
