New Delhi: As Hamas rockets fired from the Gaza Strip pounded Israel leaving 40 dead and dozens of others injured, former Israeli diplomat Maya Kadosh alleged an Iranian hand behind the attack, adding that it was “well prepared” and “well sponsored”. Speaking to news agency ANI on Saturday, the former Deputy Chief of Mission at the Israeli Embassy in India, said it wasn’t a random attack unleashed by a group of “terrorists” but had been planned over days.
“It's definitely something that was well prepared and well sponsored. And we assume that Iran was behind this move. It's not something that just a group of terrorists came out of the blue and decided to do. It's something that was well arranged and well-funded,” Kadosh told ANI.
Taking to X earlier in the day, the former diplomat posted that her house was “under attack for 3.5 hours”, adding, “…sirens are wailing and we can clearly hear the incoming rockets. The entire family is in the safe room and we are ok.”
Even as Israel launched retaliatory air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a Security Cabinet meeting, “Since this morning, the State of Israel has been at war. Our first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore security and quiet to the communities that have been attacked. The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy, within the Gaza Strip as well. The third objective is to reinforce other fronts so that nobody should mistakenly join this war."
Vowing a strong retaliation, Israel’s ambassador to India, Naor Gilon told ANI, “Early this morning, when Israeli citizens were still in their beds. Hamas, the terror organization from Gaza, perpetrated a dual attack, both rockets towards Israeli civilians and ground attacks by terrorists against civilian population. Children, women, elderly, they have killed many and captured others. Israel will retaliate. Israel will go after the perpetrators and make sure they cannot repeat this kind of atrocities again. Thank you to the Indian people and to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for your very strong moral support to Israel. We will prevail."
Former spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Lt Col (Res.) Avital Leibovich, claimed that the rocket attacks were carried out at the behest of Iran, adding that Tehran has poured “millions” into West Bank and elsewhere in Palestine to foment unrest.
“Well, there was no Israeli provocation whatsoever. This was an independent initiative... This is very tightly connected with the Iranian directive... Iran has been pouring millions into the areas of Palestinians, whether it's in the West Bank or Gaza, trying to create unrest in this entire region... We are still in a situation of defence, so the army and the other security apparatus are not stopping now and creating some sort of analysis of the situation, because we are still very deeply at the beginning of this war... Will have to wait until the end of this war,” she told ANI.
"People woke up in the morning and went to synagogues. The municipality where I live asked all of them to evacuate the synagogues and return immediately to their homes due to the current situation. There are currently blood donations in my neighbourhood because hospitals are reporting blood shortages and everybody is locked in their homes, the streets and roads are empty. There is heightened security in our area... It's really devastating. We have apps that alert us when we need to go into shelters. All the public shelters in the city have been opened... Everybody's very tense, locked at home,” she added.
Sharing details on the loss of lives and the damage to public infrastructure in the rocket strikes, the Consul Gen of Israel, Kobbi Shoshani, told ANI, “Of course, there is damage to the infrastructure and there is damage to buildings. But, the most important thing is human life...Dozens of innocent people have been killed...It's the last day of the Israeli holiday...That was something unacceptable. We will retaliate in a very, very severe way because the state of Israel and the Israeli spirit cannot do something else."
Saying he hasn’t seen such an attack on Israel “since 1973”, Shoshani added, “Right now our mission is first of all to bring peace to the southern part of Israel, to the citizens...This is something that is very sad and it's very, very sensitive...Definitely, such an attack is not something that you can do alone. You need the support of other terrorist organizations and countries. We know exactly what's going on...We are not searching for another war and we don't have anything against the people of Gaza...Hamas declared the war and Hamas will pay the price."