Iran downplays significance of response attributed to Israel as Gaza war continues

Iran downplayed the significance of the attack attributed to Israel and occurring in central Iran on Friday, ruling out retaliation at a time when both sides seem to be avoiding escalation amid escalating tensions due to the ongoing war in Gaza for over six months.

Israel received fresh support from the United States on Saturday as the House of Representatives approved military aid worth billions of dollars. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by stating that this vote "defends Western civilization." He wrote on the "X" platform, "Thank you friends, thank you America!" despite tensions with its ally and American concerns about the fate of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz welcomed the American vote, saying it sends "a strong message to our enemies."

President Joe Biden welcomed this "crucial assistance." However, for Russia, such aid allocated to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan "will exacerbate global crises."

The Palestinian Presidency announced on Saturday that the US House of Representatives' approval of a bill to provide military aid to Israel represents "aggression against the Palestinian people."

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the funds would translate into "thousands of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip," describing it as "a dangerous escalation."

Regionally, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian downplayed the significance of the attack that occurred early Friday in central Iran in an interview with NBC News.

He said that "what happened [...] was not a strike," adding that it was two or three drones "that our children play with – not drones."

He continued, "As long as there is no new adventurism by Israel against our interests, then we are not going to have any new reactions."

Official Iranian media reported on Friday hearing explosions near a military base in Isfahan province after the Iranian air defense system "successfully shot down several drones."

American media quoted US officials as saying that Israel launched a strike on Iran in response to the unprecedented Iranian attack targeting it on April 13.

In this context, The Washington Post quoted an Israeli official, who requested anonymity, as saying that Israel's goal of the attack was to show Iran that it is capable of striking it internally.

A senior US congressional official confirmed to Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity an Israeli attack in Iran. In response to a question from AFP, the Israeli army did not comment on these events.

These developments come amid the war between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) that erupted after the movement's attack on Israeli territory on October 7.

The Israeli army continued artillery shelling and airstrikes on various parts of the besieged Palestinian territory threatened with famine on Saturday.

It also continued raids and incursions into the occupied West Bank.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported on Saturday that 14 people were killed in an Israeli military operation that began Thursday evening in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier, the Israeli army said in a toll that it killed ten people and arrested eight others as part of an "anti-terrorism operation." AFP correspondents reported that the army withdrew on Saturday evening, after 48 hours of incursion into the mentioned camp, which had previously been targeted by bloody operations.

AFP