Sirens wailed and Reuters journalists in Israel heard distant heavy thuds and bangs from what local media called aerial interceptions of explosive drones. Authorities said a 7-year-old girl was critically injured.
U.S. President Joe Biden, who spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he would convene a meeting of leaders of the G7 on Sunday to coordinate a diplomatic response to what he called Iran’s brazen attack.
Six months into an Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza and amid growing risks of a greater regional war, Axios quoted a senior White House official as saying Biden also told Netanyahu the U.S. would oppose any Israeli counterattack against Iran.
The U.N. Security Council was set to meet at 4 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Sunday after Israel requested it condemn Iran’s attack. Israel requested to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, according to a schedule released late on Saturday.
Israel’s military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Iran launched dozens of ground-to-ground missiles at Israel, most of them intercepted outside Israeli borders. They included more than 10 cruise missiles, he said.
The Iranian salvo of more than 200 drones and missiles caused light damage to one Israeli military facility, Hagari said.
The Israeli military later said it was not advising any residents to prepare to take shelter. This revision of an earlier alert appeared to signal the end of the threat.
Israel’s Channel 12 TV cited an unnamed Israeli official as saying there would be a “significant response” to the attack.
