Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that Israel would “step up a level” and expand its strikes inside Iran after fresh Iranian missile fire sent civilians in central and southern Israel rushing back into shelters, the latest chapter in a missile campaign that has grown more sophisticated and more punishing with each passing week.

Sirens sounded across central Israel, Jerusalem, parts of the West Bank, and later southern Israel on Thursday as the IDF confirmed it had identified a new salvo of missiles launched from Iran toward Israeli territory. The Home Front Command sent precautionary alerts to mobile phones across affected areas, ordering residents into protected spaces until cleared to leave. Air defense systems were activated, and the military later said the incoming missiles had been intercepted, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The close call did nothing to cool Israeli tempers at the top. In a statement issued following a security assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Katz said that both he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned Iran’s leadership to halt its missile campaign against Israeli civilians.

“Despite the warnings, the fire continues,” Katz said. “Therefore, IDF strikes in Iran will step up a level and expand to additional targets and areas that assist the regime in building and operating the weapons used against Israeli civilians.”

The warning reflects a deepening Israeli frustration with an enemy that has proven more resilient than early projections suggested. On the war’s tenth day, President Trump declared that Iran’s missile capabilities had been reduced to “10%, maybe less.” On the thirteenth, Netanyahu said Hezbollah had only “residual fire left.” Two weeks on, both assessments look premature. Iran and Hezbollah are not only still firing — they are intensifying their attacks and changing tactics.

According to data from the Institute for National Security Studies, Iran carried out 89 “waves of attack” against Israel in the week through Thursday, compared with 60 in the preceding four days. Ballistic missile launches toward Israel have continued at roughly ten per day, but the pattern has shifted. Iran has been firing missiles in rapid succession at the same general area, an apparent effort to probe and exploit gaps in Israel’s layered air defenses. One such sequence on Thursday morning triggered seven sirens over several hours in central Israel, wounding fourteen people. Last Shabbos, consecutive launches toward the Negev produced direct hits in Dimona and Arad, leaving dozens wounded.

Iran has also begun firing missiles simultaneously at different areas, a tactic on display during Tuesday morning’s strike in central Tel Aviv. That attack employed a missile with a relatively small warhead — roughly 100 kilograms — suggesting Iran is experimenting with both payload configurations and targeting rhythms. Cluster-warhead missiles, which have caused heavy damage and deaths including in Ramat Gan, continue to be deployed, though the frequency of such launches appears to be declining.

Ynet military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai assessed that Iran tends to intensify its launches under two conditions: when weather or other factors make it harder to detect launchers emerging from cover, and when Israel strikes hard at Revolutionary Guard leadership. He linked Thursday morning’s intense barrage to the killing of Revolutionary Guard Navy commander Alireza Tangsiri along with his naval intelligence chief and much of his staff. Ben-Yishai wrote that the missile campaign, aimed at least in part at wearing down Israeli civilian morale, was likely to continue until the war ends, noting that Iran had amassed roughly 2,500 missiles and hundreds of launchers before the conflict began.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has been conducting its own grinding campaign in the north. Wednesday saw a peak of approximately 500 launches from Lebanon, with around 100 rockets crossing into Israeli territory and 399 sirens sounding, the highest single-day count of the war. Heavy barrages have struck Haifa, Nahariya, Acre, Kiryat Shmona, Karmiel, and Safed. Two Israelis — Nuriel Dubin and Ori Peretz — were killed in separate Hezbollah strikes this week. On Thursday night, Hezbollah targeted the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv and an intelligence base in the city for the third time since the war began.

Data also suggests Hezbollah may be timing its launches deliberately, with the highest number of sirens clustered around the half-hour mark and the top hour for alerts falling between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., coinciding with Israeli prime-time television news broadcasts.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)