Hezbollah rocket attacks kill seven in northern Israel

Two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks have killed seven people in northern Israel, authorities say – the deadliest such strikes in months.

An Israeli farmer and four foreign agricultural workers were killed when rockets landed near Metula, a town on the border with Lebanon, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.

Later, a woman in her 60s and a man around 30 were killed near Kibbutz Afek, on the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa, according to paramedics.

Hezbollah said it had fired barrages of rockets towards the Krayot area north of Haifa and at Israeli forces south of the Lebanese town of Khiam, which is across the border from Metula.

The Israeli military identified two projectiles crossing from Lebanon and falling in an open area near Metula on Thursday morning.

In the afternoon, it said about 55 projectiles were fired towards the Central Galilee, Upper Galilee and Western Galilee regions. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and others fell in open areas, it added.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the farmer and the foreign workers were killed in an agricultural area near Metula.

It cited a member of the local emergency response team as saying the Israeli military had permitted the farmer and workers to enter the area despite it being inside a closed military zone.

The military established the zone at the end of September, just before it launched a ground invasion of Lebanon with the aim of destroying Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.

The deadly rocket attacks came as two US special envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss a possible ceasefire deal to end the war with Hezbollah.

Netanyahu told Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk that the main issue was what he called Israel’s ability to “thwart any threat to its security from Lebanon in a way that will return our residents safely to their homes”, his office said in a statement.

Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah – which it proscribes as a terrorist organisation – after almost a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the war in Gaza.

It said it wanted to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of residents of northern Israeli border areas displaced by rocket attacks, which Hezbollah launched in support of Palestinians the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

More than 2,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, including 2,200 in the past five weeks, and 1.2 million others displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israeli authorities say more than 60 people have been killed by Hezbollah rocket, drone, and missile attacks in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said troops were continuing operations inside southern Lebanon and that aircraft had struck dozens of Hezbollah targets throughout the country.

Lebanon’s health ministry meanwhile said Israeli strikes had killed six paramedics in three southern towns.

Four from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Society’s Civil Defence branch, which provides emergency services, were killed when Israeli forces targeted a gathering point at Derdghaya junction, it said.

A fifth IHS paramedic was killed in an air strike on a vehicle in Deir al-Zahrani, while a strike in Zefta killed a paramedic from the Islamic Risala Scout Association, which is affiliated to the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement, according to the ministry.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. But dozens of paramedics and other emergency workers have been killed and injured since it intensified its air campaign against Hezbollah five weeks ago.

The military has previously accused Hezbollah of using ambulances to transport weapons and fighters. The IHS has denied having ties to military operations.