The Israel Defense Forces’ Home Front Command on Tuesday morning lifted restrictions for most of the country after Iranian missile attacks ceased, allowing schools to reopen and daily life to return to normal.
“The IDF continues to monitor developments, and following an ongoing situational assessment by the Home Front Command, it has been decided to update the defensive guidelines,” the military body stated.
Under the new guidelines, the vast majority of the Jewish state returned to “full activity” level, eliminating all restrictions on educational activities, businesses and public gatherings.
However, communities on the northern border—as well as several Galilee towns, including Sifsufa, Or HaGanuz, Meron, Bar Yochai, Beit Jann, Kisra-Sumei, Yesud HaMa’ala and Sde Eliezer—will remain under a “partial activity” level amid ongoing rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese proxy, the military said.
In those areas, schools and other educational programs may operate only from buildings where residents can reach a bomb shelter within the required warning time. Workplaces may also open under the same conditions.
Public gatherings in the affected areas remain limited to up to 100 people outdoors and up to 400 people indoors, according to the military.
“The public is requested to continue following Home Front Command instructions and to stay updated through official communication channels,” it said.
Iran on Monday afternoon warned it would carry out “far more severe and crushing” missile attacks against Israel if the Jewish state continued military operations against Hezbollah.
“The cessation of armed forces operations is hereby announced,” stated the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, Iran’s highest operational military command, according to a translation by Tehran’s Press TV outlet. The announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran must “immediately stop shooting.”
The regime threatened to resume attacks “if aggression and hostile acts continue, including in Southern Lebanon.”
The announcement came after Iran and its regional terrorist proxies targeted Israel with several volleys of ballistic missiles, in what the Islamic Republic said was a response to Jerusalem striking Hezbollah targets in Beirut.
In a televised address on Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF had refrained from further strikes after responding to the Iranian attacks, but warned that the Jewish state would respond with “overwhelming force” if the regime resumed its assaults.
“At the moment, we are holding our fire, because after we struck the terror regime in Tehran, it ceased attacking us,” he said. In the event that the terror regime in Iran makes the mistake of resuming attacks on us, we will respond with overwhelming force.”
Iran and Hezbollah have tried to impose a “new equation” on Israel that is “intolerable and unacceptable,” according to the Israeli prime minister.
“They thought they would fire at Israel from Lebanese territory and from Iran, and we would not act. That did not happen, and it will not happen,” Netanyahu said. “Not on my watch.”
