According to police, two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks in northern Israel killed seven individuals, making them the bloodiest such strikes in months. Rockets hit near Metula, a village on Lebanon's border, killing an Israeli farmer and four foreign agricultural workers, according to Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Later, paramedics reported that a woman in her 60s and a male in his 30s were killed in Kibbutz Afek, on the outskirts of the seaside city of Haifa. Hezbollah said it had launched rocket attacks on the Krayot area north of Haifa and on Israeli forces south of the Lebanese town of Khiam, which is over the border from Metula.
On Thursday morning, the Israeli military spotted two rockets that had crossed from Lebanon and fallen in an open area near Metula. In the afternoon, approximately 55 projectiles were thrown toward the Central Galilee, Upper Galilee, and Western Galilee regions. Some of the rockets were intercepted, while others landed in open regions, it said. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the farmer and foreign laborers were killed in an agricultural area near Metula. According to a member of the local emergency response team, the Israeli military allowed the farmer and laborers to approach the location even though it was located within a closed military zone.
The military established the zone at the end of September, soon before embarking on a foot invasion of Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah's weaponry and infrastructure. The devastating rocket attacks occurred as two US special envoys met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to explore a potential cease-fire arrangement to end the war with Hezbollah. Netanyahu told Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that the important problem was Israel's ability to "thwart any threat to its security from Lebanon in a way that will return our residents safely to their homes," according to a statement from his office.
Israel launched an operation against Hezbollah, which it considers a terrorist organization, following nearly a year of cross-border warfare precipitated by the Gaza conflict. It stated that it sought to assure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents of northern Israeli border communities who had been displaced by rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah in support of Palestinians the day after its allies Hamas' fatal attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. According to Lebanese authorities, more than 2,800 people have died in Lebanon since then, including 2,200 in the last five weeks, and 1.2 million have been displaced. According to Israeli authorities, Hezbollah rocket, drone, and missile attacks in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights have killed over 60 people.
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