Explosions were heard across Israel after Iran said it had fired dozens of ballistic missiles at Israel.
The Israeli military said there had been a large number of interceptions and “several attacks” in the central and southern regions and warned Iran that the attack would have “consequences”.
Israeli medical staff said that two people in central Tel Aviv were hit by shrapnel and suffered minor injuries.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the missiles were fired in retaliation for recent attacks that killed leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as a senior Iranian commander.
They also threatened further “destructive attacks” if Israel responded.
Iran’s supreme leader vowed on Saturday to avenge Israel’s killing of Hezbollah ally Hassan Nasrallah.
The missile strike came hours after the Israeli army began its incursion into southern Lebanon, with the Israeli military saying “Hezbollah terror targets” in border villages posed a threat to residents of northern Israel.
Israel launched the offensive after the war in Gaza sparked nearly a year of cross-border hostilities, saying it wanted to ensure the safe return of residents of border areas displaced by Hezbollah attacks.
However, there are widespread concerns that a major escalation of the long-standing conflict between the two countries could trigger a full-scale regional war involving the United States and Iran.
Before the missile strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in a video statement: “We are engaged in an operation against Iran’s axis of evil.
“We will stand firm in the difficult days ahead. We will stand united. We will fight together and win together.
Meanwhile, a senior White House official told reporters in Washington: “A direct Iranian military attack on Israel would have serious consequences for Iran.”
In April, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed several senior commanders.
Almost all were shot down by Israel, the United States and other Western allies and their Arab partners, with an air base in southern Israel suffering only minor damage when hit.
In response, Israel fired a missile that hit an Iranian air base.
U.S. officials earlier said Iran had been preparing to launch new missile attacks on Israel at short notice since early August, when it threatened to retaliate for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it killed Haniyeh.
A day after the Hezbollah leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut on Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pledged that Hassan Nasrallah’s death “will not go unavenged” ”.
He gave no details but said: “The fate of the region will be decided by the resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront.”
Iran has built a network of allied armed groups across the Middle East that oppose the United States and Israel, sometimes calling themselves the “axis of resistance.” In addition to Hezbollah, it also includes Hamas in the Palestinian territories, the Houthis in Yemen and some Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
