Benjamin Netanyahu’s says anyone who tries to harm him will pay a ‘heavy price’ after drone attack on home as missiles hit Lebanon

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of trying to assassinate him, with the Middle East already on edge after Israel had vowed retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of trying to assassinate him, with the Middle East already on edge after Israel had vowed retaliation for an Iranian missile barrage.

An official in Gaza said an Israeli strike in north Gaza had killed at least 73 people late Saturday, with many more feared trapped under the rubble. Israel said it had hit a “Hamas terror target”.

Netanyahu’s office said a drone was launched towards his residence in the central town of Caesarea but he and his wife were not home and there were no injuries.

“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

“Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price,” he said in comments directed at Tehran and “its proxies”, which include Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a group Israel has been at war with since late September.

An ambulance can be seen as Israeli security forces stand guard behind a barrier acrosse a street leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea. Picture: AFP

The Lebanese group, armed and financed by Iran, did not acknowledge the attack, but late on Saturday Iran’s United Nations mission said “this action was taken” by Hezbollah.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said a drone “hit a building in Caesarea, while trying to hit the prime minister”.

Caesarea is about 20 kilometres south of the Haifa city area, which Hezbollah has regularly targeted. Ofek Mor, a 20-year-old Caesarea resident, said he felt “unsafe like I’ve never felt before in Israel”.

It comes as the Israeli Defense Force issued a statement which said they “eliminated several terrorists in close-quarters encounters” in an operation which saw dozens killed across northern and central Gaza.

An ambulance can be seen as security forces wallow a car to cross a barrier along a street leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Caesarea. Picture: AFP

Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told CNN they received bodies of three children and four women.

According to Hamas, 33 people including 21 women were killed in one strike north of the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also said Hamas was alive and will survive despite the death of its leader Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

“His loss is certainly painful for the resistance front” against Israel, “but it will not end at all with the martyrdom of Sinwar”, Khamenei said.

The Palestinian Islamist movement “Hamas is alive and will remain alive”, he said in a statement.

With Hamas already weakened more than a year into the Gaza war, Sinwar’s death deals an immense blow to the organisation.

Israel’s announcement of Sinwar’s death comes weeks after it assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in Lebanon, where the Israeli military has been at war since late September.

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Originally published as Benjamin Netanyahu’s says anyone who tries to harm him will pay a ‘heavy price’ after drone attack on home as missiles hit Lebanon