Two people were killed and seven injured on Friday after rockets fired by Hezbollah struck the northern Arab town of Majd al-Krum, as several barrages from Lebanon targeted the north.
Arjwan Manaa, 19, and Hassan Suad, 21, succumbed to critical wounds sustained when a rocket hit near a minimarket in the town. Manaa was working as a cashier and Suad was a customer who was there buying produce.
Television footage from the scene showed the blood-stained floor around the cash register and bags of fruit and vegetables still on the counter.
Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted the adjacent city of Karmiel. The Israel Defense Forces said some 30 rockets were launched in the attack and 65 rockets were launched in total at northern Israel on Friday.
A 21-year-old man was critically hurt, a man in his 80s was seriously wounded, two others were in moderate condition and three more were lightly hurt, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
Earlier on Friday, at least six soldiers were also wounded in a rocket impact in the Shomera area in the Western Galilee, just south of the border with Lebanon. First responders said the victims were in moderate and good condition.
Additionally, a barrage of five rockets was launched from Lebanon at the Haifa area, according to the IDF.
The military said some of the rockets were intercepted, while others struck open areas. There were no reports of injuries.
The IDF also said it downed a drone that crossed into the Western Galilee in the early evening, and another drone that crossed into the Golan Heights from Syria shortly before noon.
The attacks on the north came as the army pressed on in its ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The IDF said Friday that it had carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah’s intelligence division and air defense unit in Beirut; bombed a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria which the army says Hezbollah used to smuggle Iranian arms; and demolished two tunnels in southern Lebanon, including one slated for a planned invasion of Israel.
Five Israeli reserve soldiers were killed during fighting with Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon on Thursday night and 19 others were wounded, some of them seriously, the IDF said on Friday
Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Shortly afterward, Israel evacuated communities along the border with Lebanon, fearing Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack.
Israel stepped up its airstrikes on the Iran-backed terror group in September, after adding to its official war aims the return home of some 60,000 northern residents. The airstrikes all but decimated Hezbollah’s leadership, paving the way for the ground operation, launched on September 23.
Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 31 civilians. In addition, 55 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes and in the ensuing ground operation.