Ambassador of Israel to India Naor Gilon on Sunday said that a seven-year-old girl from south of Israel was severely injured after she was hit by a shrapnel in Iran's retaliatory assault. Iran on Saturday launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in its first direct attack on Israeli territory. Speaking on the attack, Gilon said that Iran is the financer, trainer of Hamas and has been fighting a proxy war with Israel. Gilon further said that Iran has fired nearly 331 rockets of different kinds since Yesterday, but the Israeli forces have successfully intercepted 99% of them.
"Since October, Israel has been in a de facto proxy war with Iran. Iran is a financier and trainer of Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah...all of them are fighting with us...What happened yesterday is that Iran turned it from a war by proxy to a direct attack on Israel...They fired 331 different kinds of rockets, cruise missiles...with the help of some friends of our region, but mostly by the capability of Israeli defence forces and air force, we were able to intercept 99% of incoming rockets..." Gilon said.
Gilon, while speaking on the Iranian assault, said that since October, Israel has been in de facto proxy war with Iran.
"They fired 331 rockets, thank god with the help of some of our friends and mostly with the capabilities of our forces, we were able to intercept 99% of them."
The attack on late Saturday night set off air raid sirens in Israel and explosions were heard in cities as air defences intercepted rockets.
Tehran on Saturday launched a drone and missile attack on Tel Aviv after pledging retaliation for a strike on its consular building in Damascus, Syria. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed the attack as part of the punishment for “the Zionist entity’s crime of targeting the Iranian consulate in Syria” on April 1. Atleast 12 people were killed in the raid in Damascus including two senior generals in the IRGC’s elite Quds Force.
According to the Israeli army dozens of surface-to-surface missile launches were identified approaching Israeli territory and the majority of them were intercepted before they crossed the territory. Israel further said that it has deployed troops on all fronts, and is prepared, and will continue to defend its territory.
In another development, US President Joe Biden extended "ironclad" support for Israel against Iranian attacks and chaired an urgent meeting with his top officials over the escalating tensions in the Middle East.
India on Sunday urged both Iran and Israel to take the path of diplomacy and called for “immediate de-escalation” of tensions and said that hostilities between Israel and Iran threaten the peace and security in the region, hence it calls for an "immediate exercise of restraint, stepping back from violence".