Israel is keeping up its war in Gaza but is also preparing for scenarios in other areas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, amid concern that Iran was preparing to strike Israel in response for the killing of senior Iranian commanders.
"Whoever harms us, we will harm them. We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively," he said in comments released by his office following a visit to the Tel Nof air force base in southern Israel.
Israel has been bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the killing of a senior general and six other Iranian officers in an airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on 1 April.
Israel has not said it was responsible but Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said yesterday Israel "must be punished and it shall be" for the attack.
Mr Netanyahu made his comments as Israeli troops and warplanes started an operation in central Gaza overnight which the military said was aimed at destroying infrastructure of armed Palestinian groups.
Most Israeli troops have been pulled out of Gaza, in preparation for an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering, but fighting has continued in various areas of the enclave.
Residents and militants said fighters have engaged in gun battles with Israeli forces, which invaded the northern and southern areas of the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp.
Israeli bombardments from air, ground, and the sea, which so far destroyed several buildings including two mosques, were almost non-stop, they said.
"It was as if the occupation army was launching a new war," Raouf Abed, 20, said from Deir Al-Balah to the south of Al-Nuseirat refugee camp. "The explosions were non-stop, the sounds came from different directions," he said.
"Every time we hope there will be a ceasefire, Israel escalates the aggression, as if they are trying to pressure Hamas by hitting on us, the civilians," he said.
In the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike killed eight Palestinians in a market, health officials said, while another killed two other people in the northern Gaza camp of Jabalia.
Israeli military strikes killed 63 Palestinians and wounded 45 others in the past 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
At least 33,545 Palestinians have now been killed since the Israeli offensive began, the ministry said, with most of the 2.3 million population displaced and much of the enclave laid to waste.
The war began when Hamas led an attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. Around 130 are still being held incommunicado in Gaza, Israel says.
Biden promises Israel 'ironclad' support against Iran
Earlier, US President Joe Biden promised "ironclad" support for Israel as Iran threatened reprisals over the strike that levelled an Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed seven people, including two generals.
Mr Biden's promise comes despite his public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the toll on civilians in Israel's campaign against Hamas, especially after a strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza on 1 April.
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Iran is "threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel," Mr Biden told a news conference.
"As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel's security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad," Mr Biden said.
"Let me say it again - ironclad. We're going to do all we can to protect Israel's security," said Mr Biden, who was speaking next to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
US officials have voiced alarm over the prospect of an imminent strike against Israeli interests after Israel on 1 April destroyed the consulate building, killing seven members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
Amid the heightened risks, German airline Lufthansa announced it had suspended flights to and from Tehran, saying it was "due to the current situation in the Middle East".
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in a speech that the "evil regime" of Israel "must be punished and will be punished."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz swiftly replied, in a Persian-language statement on social media site X: "If Iran attacks from its territory, Israel will respond and attack Iran."
Iran's clerical state supports Hamas, which on 7 October launched the deadliest attack against Israel in the country's history, triggering a six-month Israeli military operation inside Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The United States since the start of the war has sought to prevent it from spreading, including to Lebanon, where Iran supports the Shia militant movement Hezbollah.
The United States has been tight-lipped in its public reaction to the 1 April strike, saying it has not determined whether Israel struck a diplomatic facility, which would breach international agreements on the inviolability of embassies and consulates.
