Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel killed seven people in agricultural fields near Metula and Haifa Thursday, marking what appeared to be the deadliest day in months for civilians inside Israel.
The deaths, which raised the number of civilians killed in the last year of cross-border attacks on northern Israel to 39, were likely to loom large in meetings between Israeli officials and US mediators hoping to end over a month of fighting, as the military continued to expand its strikes on Hezbollah sites deep inside Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...Authorities said five people working in an apple orchard near the border town of Metula were killed when a rocket fired from Lebanon struck them late Thursday morning.
Another person was seriously maimed in the attack.
The victims were all agricultural laborers who had been working in the orchard at the time of the strike. One was an Israeli citizen, while the others were foreign nationals.
The Israeli was named by Kibbutz Dafna as Omer Weinstein, a member of the community.
Early Friday, Thailand’s foreign minister identified the foreign nationals killed in the attack as Thai citizens.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed in a short statement that two rockets had been fired from Lebanon at the Metula area, and said the details of the incident were being examined.
Hours later, two more people were killed while in an olive grove outside the Haifa suburb of Kiryat Ata as Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at the area, authorities said. The two, described as a woman in her 60s and a man in his 30s, were killed by falling shrapnel, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service. Hebrew media reports described the two as a mother and son who had been harvesting olives when the rocket hit. They were named in reports as Mina Hasson, 60, and Karmi Hasson, 21, from the Arab-majority city of Shfaram. Rescuers found the pair in a field near Gilam junction, along with a man in his 70s, who was hospitalized with light injuries.
Buses and cars at the busy intersection were strafed by shrapnel, but no other major injuries were reported.
According to the IDF, Hezbollah fired some 25 rockets at the Haifa region and other parts of the north in the attack. "Some were shot down and some fell in the area," the IDF said.
The corpse count for a single day of cross-border fire was among the highest since Hezbollah began lobbing rockets and drones into northern Israel on October 8, 2023.
It appeared to mark the deadliest day for northern Israel since fighting intensified last month and since a July 27 Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 children at a park in the Druze town of Majdal Shams.
It wasn’t long before rocket warning sirens blared once more, this time in Karmiel and other communities across the Galilee region, as Hezbollah launched a barrage of some 30 rockets toward northern Israel. No casualties were reported in that attack.
According to the military, some 60 rockets and drones were fired at northern Israel as of Thursday afternoon.
Some of the projectiles were intercepted by air defenses, the IDF said, while others struck open areas.