Rocket fire from Lebanon kills 7 in Israel as US officials try to push for ceasefire

TEL AVIV, Israel. Rocket fire from Lebanon into northern Israel killed four foreign workers and three Israelis on Thursday, Israeli medics said. It is the deadliest cross-border attack in Israel since the invasion of Lebanon. Israel continued airstrikes targeting Hezbollah militants across Lebanon, where health authorities reported 24 deaths on Thursday.

US diplomats have been in the region pushing for ceasefires in both Lebanon and Gaza, hoping to end the wars in the Middle East as the Biden administration enters its final months. Pressure is mounting ahead of next week’s US election.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces struck one of the last functioning hospitals, destroying much-needed supplies that the World Health Organization delivered to the facility, the UN agency reports. The strikes caused a fire that affected the dialysis unit, destroyed water tanks, damaged the surgery building and injured four medics who tried to put out the fire, said hospital director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.

Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment on the strike on a hospital it stormed last week after it said it was harboring Hamas militants. The Gaza Ministry of Health on Thursday condemned the Israeli attacks on the hospital and called on the international community to protect medical facilities in Gaza.

Israel was hit by deadly missile strikes one after another

Shells from Lebanon fell on agricultural land in Metula, Israel’s northernmost city, killing four Thai workers and an Israeli farmer, officials said.

Hours later, the Israeli military reported another volley of about 25 rockets from Lebanon hit an olive grove on the outskirts of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. A 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman were killed in the attack, and two others were injured, Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency medical organization, said.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are supported by Iran, Israel’s regional adversary. Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility for Thursday’s rocket fire. The Israeli military said 90 shells were fired from Lebanon on Thursday.