Hezbollah drone strike kills four Israeli soldiers
Israel’s military reported that a drone strike attributed to Hezbollah resulted in the deaths of four soldiers at a northern military base on Sunday.
The incident marks the most lethal attack on an Israeli military installation since September 23, coinciding with intensified Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Emergency services indicated that over 60 individuals were injured in the assault, which targeted a military training camp in Binyamina, located approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Haifa.
Meanwhile, in Gaza, local authorities announced that the death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a school serving as a shelter for displaced persons had risen to 15, with entire families among the victims. A separate overnight airstrike on a hospital claimed the lives of four individuals.
As clashes continued between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, United Nations peacekeepers reported being caught in the crossfire.
They stated that Israeli troops forcibly entered a UN position using two tanks after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the withdrawal of UN forces from the region. The military confirmed that a tank had backed into the UN post while under enemy fire.
Hezbollah announced that it had launched “a squadron of attack drones” at the Binyamina base in retaliation for Israeli strikes, including air assaults that, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, killed at least 22 people in central Beirut last Thursday.
In a stark warning, Hezbollah threatened Israel, stating that “what it witnessed today in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our noble and dear people.”
United Hatzalah, an Israeli volunteer rescue service, reported assisting over 60 wounded individuals in Binyamina, with injuries ranging from mild to critical.
For over a year, Hezbollah has been actively launching rockets and drones into Israel in support of Hamas militants in Gaza. However, its recent attacks have penetrated deeper into Israeli territory.
While Israel’s advanced air defense systems have intercepted the majority of incoming projectiles, there have been limited casualties from these strikes and the resulting debris.
Israel’s air operations have increasingly targeted areas beyond Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military stated that its air force had struck “Hezbollah launchers, anti-tank missile posts, weapons storage facilities,” and other strategic locations, claiming to have eliminated dozens of Hezbollah fighters on the ground.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported a significant escalation in Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon, detailing successive bombings of several border villages. Following one such strike in Mayfadoun, near Nabatiyeh, five individuals were reported killed and another wounded.
Hezbollah engaged in multiple clashes with Israeli troops attempting to infiltrate villages along the border. Prior to the drone strike, the group announced it had fired a barrage of rockets at an Israeli base in southern Haifa.
An audio recording of the group’s slain leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on September 27, urged fighters to “defend this holy and blessed land and this honorable people.”
The Israeli military reported that approximately 115 projectiles fired by Hezbollah had crossed into Israeli territory by Sunday afternoon.
In a significant development, Israel’s military announced the capture of a Hezbollah fighter emerging from a tunnel in southern Lebanon, marking the first such report since the onset of the current ground offensive.
UN peacekeepers have accused Israeli troops of breaching a gate and entering one of their positions in southern Lebanon, adding to a series of incidents reported by the UNIFIL mission since Thursday.
