Netanyahu's office on Saturday said a drone was launched towards his residence in the central town of Caesarea but he and his wife were not home and there were no injuries.
"The attempt by Iran's proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"Anyone who tries to harm Israel's citizens will pay a heavy price," he said in comments directed at Tehran and "its proxies", which include Hezbollah, a group Israel has been at war with since late September.
The attack was essentially on “the State of Israel and its government symbols,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Touting Israel’s achievements in dismantling Hamas and degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities, Gallant warned that Israel’s security establishment would “continue to attack any terrorist actors and will strike with force any enemy that harmed or tries to harm the State of Israel.”
“Our actions all over the Middle East have proven this to date, and will prove it in the future as well,” the defense minister continued. “The attempts of the Hezbollah organization to discourage us and prevent us from achieving the goals of the war will not succeed.”
Iran said Hezbollah, which it arms and finances, was behind the attack on Netanyahu's residence.
"This action was taken by the Lebanese Hezbollah," Iran's mission to the United Nations said in response to a question about its role in the attack, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
Hezbollah has not claimed the attack.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who had earlier said that the drone attack “exposed Iran’s true face and the evil axis it leads,” dismissed outright the UN delegation’s statement.
“The primary proxy, the tentacle Iran created, funded, armed, trained, and now controls in all its operations, is suddenly portrayed as an independent entity,” he wrote on X. “Your lies and false pretenses won’t help you — you are responsible.”
According to an Axios report, “This is the first time since the start of the war that a site directly linked to Netanyahu has been targeted,” said the media outlet.
Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran, its regional arch-foe, for an October 1 missile barrage. Iran has warned it will hit back.
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