Israel says another rocket attack from Lebanon kills 2 in Israel, hours after 5 killed

JERUSALEM Rockets fired from Lebanon killed two more people in northern Israel on Thursday, Israeli medics said, bringing the death toll there to seven in the deadliest attack on Israel since its military invaded southern Lebanon earlier this month.

The attack occurred during the stay of high-ranking US diplomats in the region achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gazahoping to end the wars in the Middle East in the final months of the Biden administration.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets, drones and rockets at Israel and retaliating since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack from the Gaza Strip sparked the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies supported by Iran.

The conflict along the border escalated into full-scale war last month, when Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes across Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his deputies. Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon in early October.

Israel’s main emergency medical organization, Magen David Adom, said its medics confirmed the deaths of a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman in a suburb of the northern city of Haifa. They also treated two other people who received minor injuries and were hospitalized.

The Israeli military said that approximately 25 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon as part of a salvo that hit an olive grove where people had gathered to harvest crops.

The deadly attack came just hours after local officials in Metula, in northern Israel, said shells fired from Lebanon had hit an agricultural area, killing four foreign workers and an Israeli farmer.

Metula, Israel’s northernmost city, which is surrounded on three sides by Lebanon, was severely damaged by rockets. Residents of the city were evacuated in October 2023, only security forces and agricultural workers remained.

The Refugee and Migrant Helpline, an organization that protects foreign workers, said authorities had put them at risk by allowing them to work along the border without adequate protection.

The agricultural areas along Israel’s border, where most of the country’s fruit orchards are located, are closed military areas, which can only be entered with official permission.

Newly appointed Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said in a video message on Wednesday that the militant group will continue to fight Israel until it is offered ceasefire terms it deems acceptable. According to him, the company has recovered from a series of setbacks experienced in recent months, in particular attacks using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies many blamed Israel for this.

“Hezbollah’s capabilities are still available and compatible with a prolonged war,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military warned people to evacuate other areas of southern Lebanon as airstrikes in various parts of the country killed eight people, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Israel warned people to evacuate large areas of the country, including major cities in the south and east. About 1.2 million people have been displaced since the escalation in September.

Thousands of people have fled Baalbek, the main city of Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, and surrounding areas following Israeli evacuation warnings and aerial bombardment on Wednesday.

Jean Fakhry, a local official in the Deir el-Ahmar region, about 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southeast, said the main road had “turned into a parking lot.” About 12,000 displaced people remain in the area, most of whom are housed in private homes, he said.

Families with luggage were still arriving at one of the shelters on Thursday.

“Our houses were destroyed,” said Zahraa Younis from a village near Baalbek. “We came with nothing—no clothes or anything—and hid here.”

More than 2,800 people have been killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Lebanon since the conflict began last year, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

In Israel, rockets, projectiles and drones fired by Hezbollah killed at least 68 people, about half of whom were soldiers. More than 60,000 Israelis from towns along the border have been evacuated from their homes for more than a year.

___

Frankel reported from Jerusalem and Tawil from Deir al-Ahmar, Lebanon.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war