Jerusalem: Projectiles fired from Lebanon into northern Israel killed five people on Thursday, including four foreign workers, authorities said.
It was the deadliest such attack since Israeli troops invaded Lebanon earlier this month to battle the Hezbollah militant group.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel for more than a year, drawing retaliatory strikes. Sixty-eight people have been killed in rocket attacks in northern Israel since the conflict began last year.
The Metula regional council reported the attack. The nationalities of the workers were not immediately known.
Metula, Israel’s northernmost town which is surrounded by Lebanon on three sides, has suffered heavy damage from rockets. The town’s residents evacuated in October 2023, and only security officials and agricultural workers remain.
More evacuations as Israeli airstrikes kill 8 in Lebanon
The Israeli military has warned people to evacuate from more areas of southern Lebanon as airstrikes across the country killed at least eight people on Thursday. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank killed three people.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike and a third by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said its forces were targeting militants in the area of the Nur Shams refugee camp, which has seen repeated battles in recent months. The military said it eliminated a Hamas militant who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis.
Also Thursday, Israeli police said they have arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and collecting information on an Israeli academic on behalf of Iran.
The developments come as mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict.
Hezbollah’s newly named leader, Naim Kassem, said the militant group will keep fighting in its war with Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable.
Some 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, according to government estimates. Lebanon’s Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 12,900 wounded since Oct 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, drawing retaliation. Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October.
The death toll from more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has passed 43,000, Palestinian officials reported Monday, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The war began after Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and abducting 250 others.
