Lebanon’s Hezbollah miltant group fired hundreds of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday, and vowed to intensify its attacks, in retaliation for an Israeli strike which killed one of its senior commanders on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said more than 200 ‘projectiles’ fired from Lebanon were intercepted, with a few others igniting bush fires, without reporting any casualties.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, said it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at three bases and a barrack in northern Israel and vowed to intensify attacks to seek revenge for the killing of Taleb Sami Abdullah.
“We will increase the intensity, strength, quantity and quality of our attacks,” Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah official, said at the funeral of the slain commander.
Since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, clashes have erupted almost daily along the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Israeli media, however, described Hezbollah’s rocket and missile fire on Wednesday as “unprecedented” since the escalation in the conflict eight months ago.
Hezbollah says it acts in support of Hamas, and both are proscribed as terrorist organizations by Israel, the UK, and other countries.
According to Lebanese authorities and the UN, more than 375 individuals, including at least 88 civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, while the IDF reports that 18 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed in Israel.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office said Tuesday it was “profoundly shocked” at the impact on civilians of the Israeli operation in central Gaza that rescued four hostages held by Hamas.
Palestinian health officials said hundreds of people were killed and injured in the densely-populated Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday. Israel’s military said fewer than 100 were killed.
UN spokesman Jeremy Laurence said the action by Israeli forces “seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution… were respected” and could amount to war crimes.
He also said Palestinian armed groups could face war crimes charges for continuing to hold hostages in built-up areas and “putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk”.
Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva accused the UN human rights office of “slander”.
– Additional reporting by BBC News
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