Israel strikes Hezbollah sites after rocket attack, kills 22 in Rafah offensive

A barrage of some 35 rockets was fired from Lebanon towards Israel’s Safed city, as the Jewish community sat down for the Passover Seder meal on Monday.

Later, a statement from Hezbollah confirmed the rocket attack, claiming to have launched “dozens” of Katyusha rockets towards the country. The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, at least two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction. Around 80 per cent of the territory’s population have fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: THE LATEST
Hezbollah on Monday attacked Israel with a barrage of 35 rockets, fired from Lebanon, targetting the northern community of Ein Zeitim near Safed. The attack came as Jewish Israelis sat down for the Passover Seder meal.

Later, in a statement, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had fired “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an army headquarters in northern Israel in response to raids targeting villages in southern Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces said no injuries were reported in the attack. Later, the Israeli military also struck a Hezbollah position in southern Lebanon after hitting two more buildings where Hezbollah operatives were gathered earlier.

On Monday, Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed 22 people, including 18 children, the Associated Press reported quoting health officials. The attack came as the United States was on track to approve billions of dollars of additional military aid to Israel, its close ally.

The head of Israeli military intelligence, Major General Aharon Haliva, resigned on Monday because of Hamas’s October 7 attack, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the stunning failure to anticipate or quickly respond to the deadliest assault in Israel’s history.

The United States is expected to announce blocking of military aid to an Israeli army unit over gross human rights abuses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Associated Press reported. It comes as the US-Israeli relationship is under growing strain over civilian deaths and suffering in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.