With retaliation to retaliation, warned Tehran today Benjamin Netanyahu heightening concerns about a generalization of the conflict in the Middle East.

Israel continues its war on the Gaza Strip, but also prepares for scenarios “which may arise in other areas”, Israel’s prime minister said Thursday, amid concerns that Iran is preparing to strike the Jewish state in retaliation for the deaths of senior Iranian officials.

“We are based on one principle: whoever harms us, we will retaliate. We are prepared to meet all the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively,” he said in a message to Tehran after a visit to the Tel Nof airbase in southern Israel.

“We are in difficult times. We are in the midst of a war in Gaza that continues in full force. In addition, we are continuing our unceasing efforts to return our hostages, but we are also preparing for challenges from other fronts,” Netanyahu told the pilots as he visited an F-15 base.

Israel bracing for possible Iranian retaliation over the killing of a senior general and six other Iranian officers in an airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on April 1.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for this raid. However, yesterday Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel “he must and will be punished” for the attack.

Netanyahu’s remarks today came as Israeli troops and warplanes launched an overnight operation in central Gaza that the military said was aimed at destroying infrastructure of Palestinian armed groups.

Most Israeli troops have been withdrawn from Gaza in preparation for an attack on the town of Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians have been displaced, while fighting rages in various areas of the enclave.