Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that “residents of Tehran will pay the price” for Iran’s bombing of Israeli cities, the latest instance in which he has threatened civilian populations since the Gaza war began.
“The boastful dictator from Tehran has turned into a cowardly murderer, firing targeted shots at the civilian rear in Israel to deter the [military] from continuing the attack that is collapsing his capabilities,” Mr Katz wrote on X on Monday.
“The residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon,” he concluded.
Mr Katz, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has previously threatened residents of Gaza with “total devastation” and that the country’s armed forces would no longer differentiate “between Lebanon and Hezbollah”.
The latest statement about the Iranian capital adds to accusations that the Israeli military leadership is willing to strike civilians, even while many of its spokespeople and Israeli politicians maintain it does not.
Iran’s Health Ministry said that at least 224 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Friday. The number of people killed in Israel is at 24, it says. The fighting shows no signs of abating and is prompting urgent calls for calm as the Middle East edges closer to a regional war.
Mr Katz later played down the initial comments in a post released hours later: “I wish to clarify the obvious: there is no intention to physically harm the residents of Tehran as the murderous dictator does to the residents of Israel.”
In a further post on Monday, Mr Katz said a strike on the Iranian state broadcaster – which he accused of “propaganda and incitement” – took place “after a widespread evacuation of nearby residents”.
But the minister’s initial comments caused a backlash online, with TV host Piers Morgan writing in a post on X: “Israel Minister of Defence makes no pretense of intent to target civilians in Iran. The very thing Israel – rightly – is enraged at Iran doing to its own civilians.”
Mr Katz also blocked Israeli journalist Bar Shem-Ur who criticised his initial comments. “Criticism in a democracy? Not with him,” Mr Shem-Ur wrote in a post on X.
Israeli officials have faced a steady stream of international criticism since the Gaza war began, the most significant of which came from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants against Mr Netanyahu and Mr Katz’s predecessor, Yoav Gallant.
In the early days after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, Mr Gallant said he “ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip” and made comments about fighting “human animals”.
