Netanyahu, at site of deadly Bat Yam missile strike, vows Iran to pay ‘very heavy price’
Herzog, Ben Gvir also visit building where 7 killed, 100 wounded; president plans to visit Arab city where four women killed, notes missiles don’t discriminate
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Iran would pay a “very heavy price” for targeting Israeli civilians as he visited the site of an early-morning Iranian missile strike on a Bat Yam apartment building that killed seven people and wounded over 100 more.
“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of civilians — women, children — that it carried out deliberately. We will achieve our objectives, and we will strike them with overwhelming force,” Netanyahu said, according to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office.
President Isaac Herzog also visited the Bat Yam impact site, as did National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Three people remained missing after an Iranian ballistic missile slammed into a residential building in the central city Saturday night. Search and rescue operations were ongoing.
Tehran has fired multiple missile barrages at Israel since Jerusalem launched a wave of airstrikes targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs early Friday.
Four people were also killed in a Saturday night barrage after their home in the northern Arab city of Tamra took a direct hit. Herzog said he would visit the site very soon.
“In this brutal attack, our brothers and sisters — Jews and Arabs, children and adults — were killed and wounded without distinction. Iran does not differentiate between one blood and another; it targets the innocent and harms them,” Herzog wrote on X.
“We are here because we are in an existential battle — one that is now clear to every citizen of Israel. Think about what would happen if Iran had a nuclear weapon to drop on Israel’s cities,” Netanyahu said in Bat Yam.
“Think about what would happen if Iran had 20,000 missiles like this one — not one, but 20,000. That is an existential threat to Israel. That is why we launched a war of survival… and we are doing so with strength,” he continued.
Netanyahu urged Israeli citizens to heed the instructions of the Home Front Command during missile attacks: “Protect your souls, protect your bodies, protect your lives — and together, with God’s help, we will win.”
Netanyahu did not mention Tamra or plans to visit it throughout the day, but on Sunday evening condemned a video of several Jewish Israelis reacting with joy to missiles falling on the Arab town.
“Four of our citizens were killed in Tamra and I heard cries of joy. I reject this with disgust,” the prime minister said in a video statement.
“The missile does not distinguish — it hits both Jews and Arabs. They are coming to destroy all of us. We are brothers. We are in this battle together. The missile doesn’t distinguish but neither do the first responders, the Home Front Command officials, security forces who come to help us — they don’t distinguish.”
He went on: “Today in Bat Yam I spoke to one of them, a member of a minority. He came to rescue Jews. He doesn’t differentiate. We will not differentiate. This is all of our fight. We are all standing together, Jews, Arabs, all as one.”
Since fighting began between Israel and Iran on Friday, 14 people have been killed and hundreds have been wounded by missile impacts. All of those killed and seriously wounded were not in bomb shelters, according to the Home Front Command.
Herzog: Missiles don’t distinguish
President Herzog called upon the leaders of the “Group of Seven” nations, who are set to convene for a G7 summit in Canada on Monday, to work with Israel to confront the Iranian nuclear threat.
“If you want to get the nukes out, better work together with us, and make sure that Iran does not reach [that] capability – and that our region can move to peace and dialogue and coexistence and rapprochement,” Herzog told international press at the scene.
“Our aim is to change the reality in the Middle East. It cannot be that the empire of evil will continue to attack and attack, send its proxies and its terror, its missiles, and of course, develop nuclear capability,” he said. “So we are defending not only Israel, but the Middle East, humanity itself, world peace.”
Addressing the Israeli public, the president noted that “Israelis have been killed — of various ages — children, adults, elderly people and new immigrants.”
“The missiles do not distinguish between Jews, Muslims, Christians, or any part of the wonderful Israeli mosaic,” he said.
“This is a very significant moment in the history of Israel. We must show the emotional and mental resilience that we always have.”
Ben Gvir also visited the site, where he said that the ongoing campaign is of existential importance. A nuclear-armed Iran is “the most grave thing that could happen,” he said, and Israel was “at peace” with the costs.
The minister praised security services and said that when under attack, Israelis should enter shelters because “it saves lives.” He noted that while the Bat Yam building was largely ruined by the missile hit, the column of reinforced rooms in which Israelis were instructed to shelter was still standing.
Odeh, in Tamra, rails against ‘neglect’ of Arab citizens
Herzog said he would soon visit Tamra, where four women — all members of one family — were killed, and some 10 more were wounded when a missile struck their two-story home.
“Since this morning, I have been in constant contact with the Mayor of Tamra, Mr. Moussa Abu Roumi, following the painful incident that occurred last night as a result of the Iranian missile strike,” he said on X. “I also intend to visit the city of Tamra in the near future, to stand alongside the families of the victims and the wounded, and to support them in these difficult times.”
Hadash party chairman Ayman Odeh visited the site, where he slammed the government for not providing enough public shelters, especially for Arab municipalities.
“Tamra is not a village. It is a city of 37,000 residents. A city without public shelters. The heavy price of neglect, as well as of war, is now being revealed before our eyes,” the Arab lawmaker posted on X following his visit.
“And it’s not just in Tamra: about 60% of local authorities in Israel lack public shelters completely. The threat that now looms over us all, a threat of unprecedented destruction, does not distinguish between blood and blood. But the state, unfortunately, still distinguishes between blood and blood,” he continued, stating that his “heart goes out to all the residents of this country, Jews and Palestinians alike.
“No to war with Iran, enough of the war of annihilation in Gaza. Agreements save lives. Dictators think wars save them,” he asserted.
The Times of Israel Community.