Shortly before Israel launched a strike on Iran, the country's defence minister, Israel Katz, told a forum of military officials that, "This is a defining moment in the history of the State of Israel and in the history of the Jewish people".

Axar.az reports, citing BBC, "Upon entering office, I defined the thwarting of Iran's nuclear programme as a top priority," Katz said, claiming that "Iran is more determined than ever to realise its vision of destroying Israel".

"We are at a critical juncture - if we miss it, we will have no way to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons that threaten our existence," he added.

"We have dealt with Iran's proxies over the past year and a half, but now we are dealing with the snake's head itself."

As we reported earlier, Israel has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of counter-attacks from Iran.