Iran will pay 'very heavy price' for targeting Israeli civilians: Netanyahu

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned that Iran will pay a “very heavy price” for targeting civilians in Israel.

He made the comments while visiting the site of an early morning Iranian missile strike in the city of Bat Yam, close to Tel Aviv. At least seven people were killed and several dozen others wounded in the strike.

“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," the Prime Minister's Office quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion early Friday, targeting Iran's nuclear, missile and military infrastructure. Iran later launched retaliatory strikes on Israel, which has threatened even greater force after some Iranian missiles struck buildings in the heart of the country.

In a separate incident, four people were killed in the northern Arab town of Tamra, raising the death toll to 14 since Israel launched the operation, which it says aims to deny Iran achieving nuclear capabilities and to foil its missile development programme.

Several dozen people were injured in an attack on the city of Rehovot, but there were no fatalities.

“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.

“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 salvation against a double threat of annihilation, and we are doing so with strength. Our soldiers, our pilots, are above the skies of Iran,” he added.

He advised citizens to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command during Iranian missile attacks.

Meanwhile, at a press conference, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that more Iranian ballistic missile attacks on Israel are expected in the coming days.

“Challenging days are ahead. There will be more launches and impacts in the coming days,” Defrin said, adding that the Israeli Air Force is “not stopping striking (in Iran) for a moment”.

“Even at this hour, we are striking dozens of targets in Tehran. We are deepening the damage to (Iran's) nuclear programme and military capabilities, to disrupt and reduce the risk to the home front,” the IDF spokesperson said.

In a post on X, the IDF said that contrary to Iran, which it said is targeting the civilian population, Israel has been trying not to harm the Iranian population.

"This is the message we spread to Iranian citizens. While Iran chooses to strike without warning, we choose to warn innocent people even if it means giving up the element of surprise. We warn them, in Persian, across many channels," the IDF wrote.

"Because human life comes first to us. That’s the difference between us and our enemy," it added.

Official sources in Israel said that 270 missiles have been fired by Iran since Friday, impacting 22 sites, killing 13 people, including three minors and 10 adults, and injuring 390 people.

Among the injured, nine are in serious condition, 30 in moderate condition and 351 have minor injuries, they said.

Iran has also fired more than a hundred drones since Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13.