Several people were hurt when Hezbollah launched more than 100 rockets and drones at northern Israel in waves of attacks overnight Saturday and Sunday morning.
Rockets hit the Haifa bayside suburb of Kiryat Bialik and Moreshet, a community in the Lower Galilee, the military said. The IDF’s aerial defense array intercepted some of the projectiles.
The Israel Fire and Rescue Services was operating to put out numerous blazes ignited in the area.
Three people suffered shrapnel wounds when Hezbollah rockets hit several homes in Kiryat Bialik.
The Magen David Adom emergency service medics and paramedics treated and evacuated a 76-year-old man to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center in moderate condition with a shrapnel wound to the eye, as well as a 70-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl in mild condition with shrapnel wounds.
Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, head of the IDF Home Front Command, toured the site of the Hezbollah strike in Kiryat Bialik. In addition to the civil protection, medical and firefighting services, Israel Police and the local authority participated in searches of the area.
According to the IDF, 85 rockets were detected following air-raid sirens that sounded between 6:24 and 6:32 a.m. and between 6:52 and 7 a.m. Before that, sirens sounded in the Jezreel Valley at 4:48 and 5:10 a.m., with 20 rockets detected crossing from Lebanon into Israel.
Most of those rockets were intercepted, with the rest striking open areas. No injuries were reported, according to the IDF.
At 1:48 a.m., the IDF said that 10 projectiles were detected crossing from Lebanon into the Jezreel Valley, with most intercepted and a fallen projectile identified in the area.
Magen David Adom said that at 1:20 a.m., it received a report about a 60-year-old man with a minor head injury, likely from a small interception fragment, near a village in the Lower Galilee. He was transported to the Scottish Hospital in Nazareth.
Additionally, several people were lightly injured running to bomb shelters, including a month-old infant, two women in their 30s and men and women in their 70s and 80s. They were evacuated to Emek Medical Center in Afula and the Holy Family (Italian) and English Hospitals in Nazareth.
In total, the IDF said that Hezbollah launched 115 “aerial threats” towards civilians in northern Israel in recent hours.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the overnight and morning waves of attacks, stating that it had sent “dozens of Fadi 1 and Fadi 2 missiles” at the Ramat David Airbase southeast of Haifa and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems north of Haifa. It was reportedly the first time since Oct. 8 when the terror group began attacking Israel in support of Hamas that it has used this type of weapon.
The Iranian-backed terror army said that the missiles launched were “in response to the repeated Israeli attacks that targeted various Lebanese regions and led to the fall of many civilian martyrs,” about last week’s series of communication device explosions that killed and wounded thousands of Hezbollah terrorists.
Hezbollah has vowed revenge for the deadly pager and walkie-talkie blasts last week across Lebanon, attributing the attacks to Jerusalem.
A targeted strike by the IDF in Beirut on Friday killed senior Hezbollah terrorist Ibrahim Aqil.
Following Hezbollah’s attack on northern Israel, the IDF said on Sunday morning that it was currently striking terror targets in Lebanon.
“The IDF defensive arrays are deployed in the area, and on high preparedness to thwart threats,” the military said, adding that “IDF strikes will continue and will intensify against the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
Since Saturday afternoon, Israel has struck 290 targets in Southern Lebanon, including thousands of launcher barrels and additional terrorist infrastructure.
In an additional series of strikes, the IDF said that it struck 110 Hezbollah terror targets, including launchers and terrorist infrastructure.
The IDF also announced changes to the Home Front Command defensive guidelines, which effect “the northern Golan Heights, the Confrontation Line, the southern Golan Heights, Upper Galilee, Central Galilee, Lower Galilee, the Haifa Bay and the Valleys (HaAmakim).”
The updated guidelines prohibit educational activities, limit work activities to those taking place near bomb shelters and limit gatherings and services to up to 10 people outdoors and up to 100 people indoors. Additionally, beaches are closed to the public.
The guidelines are in effect from Sunday at 6 a.m. until Monday at 6 p.m., with the possibility of an extension.
