This story was updated on Oct. 2, 11:47 a.m.
JERUSALEM — Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles — between 180 and 200 — at Israel, forcing the country’s entire civilian population to be ordered into bomb shelters, the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday night, Oct. 1
No drones were launched during the assault that killed one person, a 37-year-old Palestinian worker from Gaza who was killed by shrapnel near the West Bank city of Jericho.
“Missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel. You are instructed to remain alert and precisely follow the Home Front Command’s instructions,” the IDF said around 7:30 p.m.
At 8:26 p.m., the IDF’s Home Front Command sent out phone alerts saying that at this stage, everyone could leave their protected spaces. A few minutes later, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the IDF spokesman, announced there were no further threats from Iran at the present time.
“We are on heightened alert on defense and offensive, we will protect the citizens of Israel. This [missile] fire will have consequences. We have plans, and we will act in the time and place that we choose,” he vowed.
Hagari asked Israelis to remain vigilant.
Israeli security officials said the country’s Air Force could retaliate “powerfully” in the region as early as Tuesday night.
The Security Cabinet, which is responsible for defense-related decisions and composed of senior ministers, met in the government bunker in Jerusalem for the first time since the start of the war as the Iranian missile attack concluded, the Kan News public broadcaster said.
“The air-defense system is fully operational, detecting and intercepting threats wherever necessary, even at this moment,” Hagari said. “However, the defense is not hermetic.”
American forces are ready to provide “additional defensive support” to Israel after helping shoot down some of the missiles fired by Iran on Tuesday night, a US defense official told the AFP news agency.
“Our forces remain postured to provide additional defensive support and to protect US forces operating in the region,” the official stated.
Earlier on Tuesday, Jerusalem informed Washington that an attack from Iran was imminent. A direct Iranian attack on Israel will carry “severe consequences” for the Islamic Republic, a senior White House official told JNS.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem sent its employees home on Tuesday and told them to be prepared to enter bomb shelters, the first such order given in recent months.
Shortly after, President Biden cancelled his scheduled Rosh Hashanah call with the Jewish community.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris said they were monitoring the attack from the White House situation room.
Biden directed the US military to assist in Israel’s defense and to shoot down Iranian missiles targeting Israel.
State Dept. spokesperson Matthew Miller denied that Iran was the source of a warning shared by the US with Israel, which Reuters had reported.
“That is absolutely false,” Miller said at a Tuesday press conference. “We had no kind of warning from the government of Iran that they were going to launch such an attack.
“This is not the first time that Iran has said things about supposed interactions with the US government,” he added.
Speaking at the White House press briefing on Tuesday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the US is working with Israel to assess the damage from the Iranian barrage.
“Today, Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards targets in Israel,” Sullivan said. “US naval destroyers joined Israeli air-defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down inbound missiles.”
He added that the White House was not aware of any deaths in Israel from the missile attack but was monitoring the “reported death of a Palestinian civilian in Jericho in the West Bank.”
Sullivan said that the US and Israel have had “initial discussions” about the attacks at the military level and between the White House and the Prime Minister’s Office.
Further “consultations” on about the US and Israeli response to the attack would take place that day he said.
“We have made clear that there will be consequences, severe consequences, for this attack, and we will work with Israel to make that the case,” Sullivan said.
“We are now going to look at what the appropriate next steps are to secure, first and foremost, American interests and then to promote stability to the maximum extent possible as we go forward.”
In April, Iran conducted its first-ever direct attack on Israeli territory, launching some 300 missiles and drones, the vast majority of which were shot down in a multinational effort. It said it attacked in retaliation for an April 1 strike that killed a top Iranian general in Damascus.
In recent months, Iran and its allies have vowed to avenge the alleged Israeli killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ “political” bureau, and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel in a targeted attack in Beirut on Sept. 27.
Meanwhile, the IDF on Tuesday said it had carried out dozens of secret ground operations into Southern Lebanon over the past year to reduce Hezbollah’s war-making capability, destroying the terror group’s tunnels and hidden weapons caches.
The goal was to cripple Hezbollah’s ability to invade Israel.
Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said that IDF forces discovered more details of Hezbollah’s plan to invade northern Israel, which was to be spearheaded by the group’s Radwan Force.
He showed a picture of the map that detailed the plan.
Also Tuesday, the IDF warned residents of Southern Lebanon not to venture south of the Litani River, hours after IDF tanks rolled across the border to begin a limited ground operation against Hezbollah.
“Intense fighting is ongoing in Southern Lebanon, during which Hezbollah militants are using the civilian environment and population as human shields to launch attacks,” Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, tweeted in Arabic.
“For your personal safety, we urge you not to travel by vehicle from the northern area to the area south of the Litani River. This warning is valid until further notice,” he wrote.
In announcing the operation, the army said that forces were conducting “limited, localized and targeted raids” along the border.
“These targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel,” the IDF said, adding that the troops were being backed by aerial and artillery support.
