Iran’s supreme leader treads carefully in response to Israeli attack

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stopped short of calling for retaliation in his carefully crafted remarks on Israel’s attack on his country.

“The evil actions of the Israeli regime two nights ago should neither be exaggerated nor downplayed,” Khamenei said. “The miscalculations of the Israeli regime must be disrupted. It is essential to make them understand the strength, will, and initiative of the Iranian nation and its youth.”

His comments suggest that that Iran is carefully weighing its response to the attack. Already, Iran’s military has said a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip or Lebanon trumps any retaliatory attack on Israel, though Iranian officials also have said they reserve the right to respond.

Khamenei added that “it is up to the authorities to determine how to convey the power and will of the Iranian people to the Israeli regime and to take actions that serve the interests of this nation and country.”

Trump and Harris respond at rallies

Former President Donald rump and his election opponent Vice President Kamala Harris responded briefly to the attack at their respective rallies, although their tones were very different.

“Israel is attacking — we’ve got a war going on and she’s out partying,” Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday as Harris was holding an event with Beyoncé in Texas.

Meanwhile, Harris called for “de-escalation and not an escalation of activities in that region.”

“I feel very strongly, we as the United States feel very strongly that Iran must stop what it is doing in terms of the threat that it presents to the region and we will always defend Israel against any attacks by Iran in that way,” she told reporters in Michigan.

Israeli strikes in northern Gaza continue

Israeli strikes on northern Gaza late Saturday have killed at least 22 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials, as the Israeli offensive in the hard-hit and isolated north entered a third week and aid groups described a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency service said that 11 women and two children were among the 22 killed in the strikes on several homes and buildings in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. It said a further 15 people were wounded and that the death toll could rise. It listed the names of those killed, who mostly came from three families.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike on militants in a structure in Beit Lahiya and took steps to avoid harming civilians. It disputed what it said were “numbers published by the media,” without elaborating or providing evidence for its own account.

Israel has been waging a massive air and ground offensive in northern Gaza since 6 October, saying that Hamas militants have regrouped there. Hundreds of people have been killed and tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled to Gaza City in the latest wave of displacement in the yearlong war.

Aid groups have warned of a catastrophic situation in northern Gaza, which was the first target of Israel’s ground offensive and had already suffered the heaviest destruction of the war. Israel has severely limited the entry of basic humanitarian aid in recent weeks, and the three remaining hospitals in the north — one of which was raided over the weekend — say they have been overwhelmed by waves of wounded people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Saturday said that ongoing Israeli evacuation orders and restrictions on the entry of essential supplies to the north had left the civilian population in “horrific circumstances.”

“Many civilians are currently unable to move, trapped by fighting, destruction or physical constraint and now lack access to even basic medical care,” it said.