Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on as he holds a news conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem. AP
The war cabinet meeting was convened to conduct a situation assessment and for Netanyahu to meet with the heads of Israeli security institutions to evaluate the threat of retaliation, according to Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth.
The ministers sitting on the Israeli war cabinet, who are responsible for approving any war effort including assassinations, were reportedly not briefed before the two assassinations. When the war cabinet authorized Netanyahu to act against Hezbollah, who Israel has pinned without evidence as the culprits behind the massacre at Majdal Shams, they did not know that it would include targeted countermeasures in Beirut, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
The security level at Jewish and Israeli institutions, including diplomatic missions and embassies, around the world was also raised earlier in the day, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
The Israel Aviation Authority said today it had cancelled flights to and from Israel until midnight Wednesday, "until the situation is reassessed." Earlier on Wednesday, Israel closed airspace from the city of Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, to the northern border.
Hamas said Wednesday its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in an Israeli strike in Iran, where he had been attending the inauguration of the country's new president.
Israel also claimed late Tuesday that they had killed Hezbollah’s senior military commander Fuad Shukr, who they said was behind a rocket attack on Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths.
Hezbollah said Wednesday that Shukr was inside the building in Beirut's southern suburbs hit by Israel the previous day and that his fate was still unknown.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of firing a rocket and killing 12 children and teenagers in an attack on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah has, however, denied any responsibility for the attack.
Israel has a long history of carrying out assassinations, often committing high-profile killings, including those of Hamas and Hezbollah commanders, Iranian generals, and PLO leaders, many of which have sparked retaliatory strikes and conflicts.
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