@Terry I don't think an F-35 has the range to fly out of israel with any kind of payload, dogleg over the persian gulf, get to iran, and fly back to israel
so either they're not operating out of israel, or they're landing somewhere else to refuel, or both
fighters suck for long range strike, that's what bombers are for but israel doesn't have any AFAIK
sometimes planes have to take off without much fuel just to get in the air with their desired payload, then refuel right away
what you want is to be close enough to just takeoff and land without any of those shenanigans. and kuwait is right there...