Jerusalem / Ramallah — The conflict has taken a dramatic new turn after Iran, vowing revenge for the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claimed responsibility for a rare, direct bombardment of Israeli Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and areas around Jerusalem. The strike shatters long‑held assumptions that these communities were beyond the reach of Tehran’s own firepower.

According to Israeli officials, a mix of medium‑range missiles and long‑endurance drones, launched from Iranian and allied territory, targeted what Tehran called “colonial outposts and strategic nodes” near major settlements around Jerusalem and in the northern and central West Bank. Sirens screamed across Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel and neighborhoods on the edge of Jerusalem as residents raced for bomb shelters; emergency services report multiple fires, damaged homes and a growing number of casualties.

In Tehran, state TV hailed the barrage as the “first direct answer in defense of Palestine and in blood for Khamenei,” broadcasting triumphant animations of missiles arcing toward the hills overlooking Jerusalem. Iranian commanders framed the attack as a message that “every inch of occupied land is now within the resistance’s crosshairs,” urging Palestinians and allied militias to “intensify pressure on all fronts.”

Israel’s government has condemned the strikes as a “terrorist onslaught on civilians,” green‑lighting expanded military operations in the West Bank and along regional fronts. Hardliners are demanding a crushing response not only against Iran, but also against Hezbollah and Gaza‑based factions seen as Tehran’s proxies.

Diplomats warn that by directly targeting Jewish settlements and the Jerusalem periphery, Iran has fused two of the region’s most explosive fault lines — the Iran–Israel confrontation and the core of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. With emotions surging on all sides, the danger now is that calls for vengeance, rather than strategy, will drive decisions in the days ahead.