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Netanyahu: Israel Today Has More Freedom of Action in Iran Than Ever

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a ceremony for the 70th cohort of military combat officers, at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a ceremony for the 70th cohort of military combat officers, at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Netanyahu: Israel Today Has More Freedom of Action in Iran Than Ever

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a ceremony for the 70th cohort of military combat officers, at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a ceremony for the 70th cohort of military combat officers, at an army base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Israel is able to reach anywhere in Iran should the need arise, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Netanyahu, in a speech to new military officers, said that Israel has unprecedented freedom of action following its recent airstrikes against Iran.

"Israel today has more freedom of action in Iran than ever. We can reach any place in Iran as necessary," Netanyahu said. "The supreme goal I gave to the Israel Defense Forces and the security branches is to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon."

Israel attacked military targets in Iran with pre-dawn airstrikes Saturday in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles Iran fired on Israel earlier this month. It was the first time Israel’s military has openly attacked Iran.

Israel is widely thought to be behind a limited airstrike in April near a major air base in Iran that hit the radar system for a Russian-made air defense battery. Iran had earlier fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel, causing minimal damage, after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic post in Syria.

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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday.
On average, that means 30 migrants died every day this year attempting to reach the country by boat, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said. Overall deaths rose 58% compared to last year, the report added, according to The Associated Press.
Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Caminando Fronteras said most of the 10,457 deaths recorded up until Dec. 15. took place along that crossing, the so-called Atlantic route — considered one of the world's most dangerous.
The organization compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 1,538 children and 421 women among the dead. April and May were the deadliest months, the report said.
Caminando Fronteras also noted a “sharp increase” in 2024 in boats leaving from Mauritania, which it said became the main departure point on the route to the Canary Islands.
In February, Spain pledged 210 million euros (around $218 million) in aid to Mauritania to help it crack down on human smugglers and prevent boats from taking off.
Spain’s interior ministry says more than 57, 700 migrants reached Spain by boat until Dec. 15 this year, a roughly 12% increase from the same period last year. The vast majority of them came through the Atlantic route.