Rocket fire from Lebanon kills five people in deadliest attack on northern Israel since invasion

JERUSALEM — Rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel on Thursday killed five people, including four foreign workers, in the deadliest such attack since the Israeli invasion earlier this month.

The attack occurred while senior US diplomats were in the region. seek a ceasefire in Lebanon and the Gaza Striphoping to end wars in the Middle East in the final months of the Biden administration.

Hezbollah has launched missiles, drones and missiles at Israel and carried out retaliatory strikes since a Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, sparked war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies supported by Iran.

The conflict along the border escalated into full-scale war last month when Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes into Lebanon and killed top Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his lieutenants. Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon in early October.

Metula Regional Council reported the attack on Thursday, without specifying the number or type of shells used. The nationalities of the workers were also not immediately known.

Metula, Israel’s northernmost city, surrounded on three sides by Lebanon, was seriously damaged by rockets. Residents of the city were evacuated in October 2023, leaving only security forces and agricultural workers.

The Refugee and Migrant Hotline, an organization that advocates for foreign workers, said authorities had put them at risk by allowing them to work along the border without adequate protection.

Agricultural areas along the border with Israel, where most of the country’s gardens are located, are closed military areas, entry into which is possible only with official permission.

Hezbollah’s newly appointed top leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in a video message on Wednesday that the militant group will continue to fight Israel until it is offered ceasefire terms it deems acceptable. He said the country had recovered from a series of setbacks in recent months, including attacks using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies Many blamed this on Israel.

“Hezbollah’s capabilities are still available and compatible with a long war,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military warned people to evacuate other areas of southern Lebanon as airstrikes killed eight people in different parts of the country, according to a report by Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

Israel warned people to evacuate large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. Some 1.2 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the September escalation.

Thousands of people fled Baalbek, the main city in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, and surrounding areas following Israeli evacuation warnings and aerial bombings on Wednesday.

Jean Fakhri, a local official in the Deir al-Ahmar district, about 17 kilometers (10 miles) southeast, said the main highway had “become a parking lot.” About 12,000 people remain displaced in the area, most of them living in private homes, he said.

Families with luggage arrived at one of the shelters on Thursday.

“Our houses were destroyed,” said Zaraa Younis from a village near Baalbek. “We came with nothing – no clothes, nothing else – and took refuge here.”

More than 2,800 people have been killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Lebanon since the conflict began last year, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

In Israel, rockets, rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah have killed at least 68 people, about half of them soldiers. More than 60,000 Israelis from border towns have been evacuated from their homes for more than a year.

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Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Tawil from Deir al-Ahmar, Lebanon.

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