First direct Iran-Israel strike since April: missiles on Galilee after Beirut bombing, Trump explodes at Netanyahu over the phone

On the night of 7 to 8 June 2026, eleven Iranian ballistic missiles targeted northern Israel, the first direct salvo on Israeli territory since the 8 April ceasefire. The Israeli military says it intercepted all of them; schools were closed across the country on 8 June. The sequence had begun the previous day with an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, which killed two to three people according to Lebanese sources.

Shortly afterward, Donald Trump called Benjamin Netanyahu to demand that Israel not retaliate and to set the course toward a nuclear deal with Tehran. The distance between Washington and its ally became public: the Pentagon raised its alert level on espionage, and the U.S. president stated that Netanyahu would have no choice but to accept the deal.

In the background, a Pakistani mediation became active in Tehran, alongside the Arab voice coordinated by Doha and Cairo. Lebanon has emerged as the decisive variable: Tehran ties any de-escalation to an Israeli withdrawal from the country's south, while Washington refuses to link the two files. Economic pressure remains strong, with oil prices rising and Iranian assets frozen.

Several points remain disputed. The actors disagree on what triggered the escalation: some trace it to the strike on Beirut, others to the missile salvo. The true reach of U.S. pressure on Israel and the weight of Lebanon's centrality are also read in opposing ways, while consensus holds only on the bare facts.