Tense Israel waiting as attack threat looms

TEL AVIV, Aug 08 (Reuters/AFP): Israel's ambulance service has stocked blood supplies in a fortified underground centre, factories have moved out hazardous materials and municipal authorities are checking bomb shelters and water supplies as the country waits for a threatened attack from Iran and its proxies.
Israel has been fortifying its home front for months and many preparations have been in place since the start of the war in Gaza last October, when thousands of Hamas-led gunmen carried out a devastating cross-border attack on Israeli communities.
But the urgency has risen sharply over the past 10 days as a relatively contained conflict with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon has threatened to spiral into an all-out regional war.
"I know that the citizens of Israel are on alert, and I ask of you one thing - keep patient and cool," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday while meeting new army recruits.
"We are prepared for both defence and attack, we are striking our enemies and are also determined to defend ourselves," he said.
Israel now finds itself facing the threat of a multifront war, confronting a clutch of militant movements - Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, all backed and funded by its longstanding enemy Iran.
Israel vows to eliminate
new Hamas leader
Israel vowed to eliminate new Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack, with regional tensions threatening to boil over as the Gaza war entered its 11th month on Wednesday.
The naming of Sinwar to lead the Palestinian militant group came as Israel braced for potential Iranian retaliation over the killing of his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran.
Speaking at a military base on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "determined" to defend itself.
"We are prepared both defensively and offensively," he told new recruits.
Army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi vowed to "find him (Sinwar), attack him" and force Hamas to find another leader.
EU, France, UK slam Israel minister
for Gaza starvation comment
The European Union, France and the UK on Wednesday condemned a far-right Israeli minister for suggesting it would be "justified and moral" to starve two million Gazans to free scores of captives held in the Palestinian territory.
"No one in the world will allow us to starve two million people, even though it might be justified and moral in order to free the hostages," Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at a conference earlier this week.
"We are bringing in humanitarian aid because we have no choice. We are in a situation that requires international legitimacy to conduct this war."
Smotrich's remarks sparked outrage in the international community, with the European Union saying the deliberate starvation of civilians was a "war crime".