Hours after 5 people were killed, Israel announced that another rocket attack from Lebanon killed 2 people in Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel — Rockets fired from Lebanon killed two more people in northern Israel on Thursday, Israeli medics said, raising the death toll to seven in the deadliest attack on Israel since the Israeli army invaded southern Lebanon earlier this month. .

The attack took place while senior US diplomats were in the region Pressing for ceasefires in Lebanon and GazaBiden hopes to see an end to the wars in the Middle East in the final months of his administration.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets, drones and missiles at Israel and launching retaliatory strikes since Hamas’ attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies supported by Iran.

The border conflict escalated into a full-scale war last month when Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes into Lebanon, killing Hezbollah’s top leader Hassan Nasrallah and many of his aides. Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon in early October.

Israel’s main emergency medical agency, Magen David Adom, said medics confirmed the deaths of a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman in a suburb of the northern city of Haifa. They also treated two people who suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital.

The Israeli military said about 25 rockets crossed into Israel from Lebanon as part of a volley that spread into olive groves where people gathered for the harvest.

The deadly attack came just hours after local authorities in Metula in northern Israel said bullets fired from Lebanon hit an agricultural field, killing four foreign workers and an Israeli farmer.

Metula, Israel’s northernmost city surrounded by Lebanon on three sides, was heavily damaged by rockets. The town’s residents were evacuated in October 2023, leaving only security guards and farm workers.

The Refugees and Migrants Helpline, an organization that advocates for foreign workers, said authorities were putting them in danger by allowing them to work across the border without proper protection.

The agricultural areas on the Israeli border, where most of the country’s orchards are located, are closed military areas that can only be entered with official permission.

Hezbollah’s newly appointed leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in a video statement on Wednesday that the militant group will continue to fight Israel until it is offered ceasefire terms it deems acceptable. He said it was recovering from a series of setbacks in recent months. Attacks using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies This was widely blamed on Israel.

“Hezbollah’s capabilities still exist and are suitable for a long war,” he said.

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

Israel warned people to evacuate from large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced since tensions escalated in September.

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

Jean Fakhry, a local official in the Deir al-Ahmar district about 17 kilometers (10 miles) southeast, said the main highway “has turned into a parking lot.” He said about 12,000 displaced people remained in the area and most were accommodated in private homes.

Families with luggage continued to arrive at one of the shelters on Thursday.

“Our houses were destroyed,” said Zahraa Yunus from the village near Baalbek. “We came with nothing, no clothes or anything else, and took shelter here.”

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

Rockets, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles launched by Hezbollah in Israel killed at least 68 people, approximately half of whom were soldiers. More than 60,000 Israelis living in border towns and cities 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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