Seven killed by Hezbollah rockets in northern Israel

At least 80 rockets were fired from Lebanon, Israel's military said, during the deadliest day in northern Israel in months

Medics next to a crater in northern Israel after rocket fire from Lebanon. AFP

Seven people were killed in two separate rocket attacks on northern Israel on Thursday, marking one of the deadliest days in the region since fighting with Hezbollah began in October last year.

The two strikes also led to serious injuries, and other attacks across the region caused yet more casualties, as Israel continued with its ground invasion of Lebanon that the government says is meant to restore security in the north.

Five people were killed in an agricultural area near the northern town of Metula, right on Israel's border with Lebanon after two rockets were fired from Lebanon. One was 46-year-old Israeli citizen Omer Weinstein and four were foreign nationals, at least one of whom was from Thailand. Foreign workers are often employed on Israeli farms, particularly amid a shortage of workers since the Gaza War began.

The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, an organisation that advocates for foreign workers, said authorities had put them in danger by allowing them to work along the border without proper protection.

Later in the afternoon, a woman in her 60s, Mina Hasson, and her son Raja Hasson, in his 30s, were killed in a rocket attack on an olive grove near Haifa. A 71-year-old was lightly injured. Paramedics at the scene said they found the unconscious man in his 30s first, followed by the woman who had "multi-system injuries". All were suffering from shrapnel wounds.

Around the same time paramedics, responded to a 48-year-old man who was mildly injured in the Western Galilee and a 21-year-old woman with mild wounds in the town of Shef-Amr, near Haifa. Both had shrapnel injuries, Israeli medics said.

Israel's military also said that a 56-year-old woman was moderately injured while picking olives in the Yarka area.

At least 80 rockets had been fired into Israel from Lebanon by mid-afternoon on Thursday, according to a tally by Israel's military.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel, and drawing retaliatory strikes, since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of the Gaza Strip triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies backed by Iran.

The conflict along the border escalated into a full-blown war last month, when Israel launched a wave of heavy air strikes across Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his deputies. Israeli ground forces pushed into Lebanon at the start of October.