Iran has justified its attacks on Israel following Tel Aviv's admission of its role in the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Meanwhile, the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank marks its second sombre Christmas filled with prayers to bring an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Iran claims Israel's admission of assassinating former Hamas leader Haniyeh justifies its October missile attack, escalating diplomatic tensions after Katz's recent statements.

The Assad regime’s collapse in Syria means the entire Iranian axis has been disrupted, and ‘as we learned today, it even stopped the Iraqi militias,’

Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned the leadership of Yemen’s Houthis they can expect the same fate as the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, who were assassinated in Tehran and Beirut earlier this year.

Attacking Houthi rebels can't guarantee long-term safety to Israel but IDF should directly target Iran, Jerusalem's opposition politician Benny Gantz and Mossad chief David Barnea claimed

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani argued that the admission legitimised Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1, which had sent millions of Israelis into shelters as approximately 200 missiles targeted the country.

New York, IRNA - Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UN announced in a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Security Council wrote Israeli regime's clear admission of its responsibility for this heinous crime,

Israel's defence minister has admitted that Israel killed Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. Israel has also vowed to target the heads of the Iran-backed Houthi movement.

Since launching its retaliatory war in Gaza, Israel claims to have eliminated the leaders of militant groups including, Sinwar, the mastermind of the 7 October attack on Israel, and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an airstrike on a building complex in Beirut.

Ismail Haniyeh led Gaza ceasefire talks when an explosive device planted by Israeli operatives weeks earlier killed him.

In the months that followed, Israel directly attacked Iran, assassinated Nasrallah and invaded southern Lebanon. In November it agreed to a US-backed ceasefire in Lebanon that enshrined its right to unilaterally enforce any alleged violations by Hezbollah.