Israel's Netanyahu says ready for any scenario amid escalating regional tensions

Israel's national security council warns citizens to exercise caution while travelling abroad

JERUSALEM:

Israel is on a high state of alert, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, amid growing expectations that Iran or its allies will retaliate for the killing of senior leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas this week.

“Israel is very prepared for any scenario - both defensively and offensively,” he said, according to remarks released by his office following a visit to the Home Front Command. “We will exact a very heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena.”

Meanwhile, Israel's national security council warned Israelis to exercise extra caution when travelling abroad and said Iran or its allies Hamas and Hezbollah could target Israeli or Jewish institutions outside the country.

The warning, in a statement issued through the prime minister's office, came amid growing fears in Israel of a attack by its enemies in retaliation for the assassination of senior leaders from Hezbollah and Hamas this week.

The region faces a risk of widened conflict between Israel, Iran and its proxies after Ismail Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran on Wednesday and the killing of Hezbollah's senior commander on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital Beirut.