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Israel’s War Cabinet set to discuss response to Iranian attack

Jerusalem’s response will not come immediately, according to Israeli media reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the War Cabinet at the IDF's Tel Aviv headquarters, April 14, 2024. Credit: Courtesy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the War Cabinet at the IDF’s Tel Aviv headquarters, April 14, 2024. Credit: Courtesy.

Israel’s War Cabinet was set to convene on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. local time to discuss the country’s response to Saturday night’s Iranian drone and missile attack.

The Islamic Republic fired more than 300 missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles from its territory toward Israel, in what Tehran says was retaliation for the April 1 killing of several IRGC officers in Syria by Israel.

Discussions over an appropriate Israeli response come against the backdrop of American pressure to not retaliate amid fears of a regional war.

U.S. President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Saturday that Washington will not support offensive action against the regime in Tehran.

Israeli officials are saying that a response will not come immediately, Ynet reported.

Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz, a member of the War Cabinet, said on Sunday that the country would " build a regional coalition, and we will exact a price from Iran in the way and at the time that is right for us.”

According to a The New York Times report that cited two officials in Jerusalem, Netanyahu abandoned the option of a retaliatory strike on Iranian territory following the conversation Biden, in part because the attack “caused relatively minor damage.”

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