TEHRAN/JERUSALEM, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the fire against Iran is currently "on hold," but warned that Israel will respond forcefully if Iran resumes its attacks.
"At the moment, the fire is on hold because after we struck ... it (Iran) stopped attacking us," Netanyahu said in his first televised statement more than 20 hours after Iran first launched missiles at Israel on Sunday night.
If Iran "makes the mistake of attacking us again, we will respond with force," he added.
Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would continue to carry out attacks against Hezbollah and would strike the Dahieh district, south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, in response to any attack on communities in northern Israel.
Following Netanyahu's statement, Israel's Home Front Command said it will lift most civil defense restrictions across the country on Tuesday morning, while restrictions will remain in place in several northern communities near the Lebanese border.
Earlier in the day, Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, announced in a statement the cessation of strikes against Israel, but warned that any further Israeli "aggression and malicious acts," including in southern Lebanon, would trigger a much more "severe and crushing" response from Tehran.
It said the Iranian armed forces' actions were carried out in support of the Lebanese people following Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and the Dahieh district. It also accused the United States of backing Israeli operations and said that Israel should have learned its lesson from Iran's response.
Iran's official news agency IRNA said that at least 15 people were wounded in Israeli attacks against Iran on Monday, with no death reported yet.
Following flight restrictions imposed earlier in the day on Iran's airspace, the country's Civil Aviation Authority said aviation operations are returning to normal, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Meanwhile, COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing aid coordination, said the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip will gradually reopen for the entry of humanitarian aid starting Tuesday after being closed on Sunday due to Iranian attacks on northern Israel.
The latest escalation came after the Israeli military conducted airstrikes in the southern suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Sunday, killing at least two people.
Following the Israeli operations, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced late Sunday that it launched ballistic missiles at the Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel in response to Israel's "widespread crimes" in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military on Monday carried out airstrikes on several targets in Iran, including radar sites and a petrochemical company in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. In response, the IRGC launched strikes on the Nevatim and Tel Nof air bases as well as certain industries in Israel. Enditem
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