Report: Israeli Minister Tells US That Large-Scale Iranian Attack Expected 

09 August 2024, Iran, Tehran: An Iranian man holds a Palestine flag during a memorial ceremony for the slain head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, at the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran. Photo: Rouzbeh Fouladi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
09 August 2024, Iran, Tehran: An Iranian man holds a Palestine flag during a memorial ceremony for the slain head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, at the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran. Photo: Rouzbeh Fouladi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Report: Israeli Minister Tells US That Large-Scale Iranian Attack Expected 

09 August 2024, Iran, Tehran: An Iranian man holds a Palestine flag during a memorial ceremony for the slain head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, at the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran. Photo: Rouzbeh Fouladi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
09 August 2024, Iran, Tehran: An Iranian man holds a Palestine flag during a memorial ceremony for the slain head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, at the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran. Photo: Rouzbeh Fouladi/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday that Iran was making preparations for a large-scale military attack on Israel, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said in a post on X, citing a source with knowledge of the call. 

In a statement on Monday, Gallant's ministry confirmed the call took place overnight. It said Gallant and Austin discussed operational and strategic coordination and the Israeli military's readiness in the face of Iranian threats. 

Austin has meanwhile ordered the deployment of a guided missile submarine to the Middle East. The US military had already said it would deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the region to bolster Israeli defenses. 

On Friday, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards deputy commander was quoted as saying by local news agencies that Iran was set to carry out an order by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to "harshly punish" Israel over the assassination on July 31 of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Palestinian group Hamas in Tehran. 



Biden, Harris Seek 'Full Accountability' after Killing of US Citizen in West Bank

US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
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Biden, Harris Seek 'Full Accountability' after Killing of US Citizen in West Bank

US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW
US President Joe Biden (C-R) and Democratic Presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris (C-L) participate in a wreath laying ceremony on observance of the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, USA, 11 September 2024. EPA/SHAWN THEW

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called the Israeli military's killing of an American activist in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "unacceptable" and said Israel must do more to make sure it never happens again.

Israel has taken responsibility for the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who was killed while taking part in a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank. Biden said the US government expects continued access to the criminal investigation into the shooting.
"There must be full accountability. And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again," Biden said in a statement.
Harris said in a separate statement that no one should be killed for participating in a peaceful protest.
"The shooting that led to her death is unacceptable and raises legitimate questions about the conduct of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) personnel in the West Bank," she said.
Eygi, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead on Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers. Israel has said her death was accidental.

For her 26th birthday in July, Eygi gathered friends for a bonfire at one of her favorite places, a sandy beach in Seattle where green-and-white ferries cruise across the dark, flat water and osprey fish overhead.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people traveled to the same beach in grief, love and anger to mourn her.

As the sun set, turning the sky on the horizon a pale orange, friends recalled Eygi as open, engaging, funny and devoted. The crowd spilled beyond a large rectangle of small black, red, green and white Palestinian flags staked in the sand to mark the venue for the vigil.
Many attendees wore traditional checked scarves — keffiyehs — in support of the Palestinian cause and carried photographs of Eygi in her graduation cap. They laid roses, sunflowers or carnations at a memorial where battery-operated candles spelled out her name in the sand.

Eygi's relatives called on Biden and Harris to speak to the family directly and order an independent investigation into her shooting.
To call her death an accident "is complicity in the Israeli military’s agenda to take Palestinian land and whitewash the killing of an American. ... Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack," the family said in a statement.
Democratic US Senator Patty Murray and Representative Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter to Biden on Wednesday and requested "an immediate, transparent, credible and thorough" independent US investigation.