Hezbollah fires hundreds of rockets as Israel launches strike in Lebanon

The Israeli Defence Forces said it carried out further attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

Israel launched intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, as the militant group fired off a barrage of rockets.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting, said the military had eliminated “thousands of rockets that were aimed at northern Israel” and urged citizens to adhere to directives from the Home Front Command.

“We are determined to do everything to defend our country, to return the residents of the north securely to their homes and to continue upholding a simple rule: Whoever harms us -we will harm them,” he said.

Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel’s Ben-Gurion international airport diverted incoming flights and delayed takeoffs for a time. Israel’s Airports Authority said flights resumed at 7am local time.

Lebanese media reported strikes in the country’s south without immediately providing more details. Social media footage showed what appeared to be strikes in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israel with a large number of rockets and drones as an initial response to the killing of one of its top commanders in a strike in Beirut last month.

The group had vowed a significant response to the targeted killing of Fouad Shukur, raising fears that months of tit-for-tat strikes could escalate into an all-out war.

The attacks came as Egypt hosts a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war with Hamas, now in its 11th month.

Hezbollah has said it will halt the fighting if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the start of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack into Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.

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Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least three dozen Palestinians in southern Gaza, health workers said on Saturday.

Eleven members of a family, including two children, were among the dead after an airstrike hit their home in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received a total of 33 bodies from three strikes in and around the city .

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

First responders also recovered 16 bodies from the Hamad City area of Khan Younis after a partial pullout of Israeli forces, 10 bodies from a residential building west of Khan Younis and two farther south in Rafah.

The circumstances of their deaths weren’t immediately clear, but the areas were repeatedly bombed by the Israeli military over the past week

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