Cabinet minister Avi Dichter stated that overnight, Israel launched a preemptive strike against “an Iranian enemy that had developed a concrete plan to destroy the State of Israel.” He noted that the IDF, Military Intelligence, the Air Force, and the Mossad are working together to dismantle Iranian offensive infrastructure.
Dichter emphasized that “we have not abandoned the war in Gaza nor the goal of returning all the hostages,” adding that deep strikes in Iran are disrupting its progress toward acquiring nuclear weapons.
“With faith in the justice of our cause and prayers for the safety of our pilots—we enter the first Shabbat of this campaign,” he concluded.