Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his military was gradually shifting its attention from Gaza to Israel's northern border with Lebanon, as Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants launched new cross-border attacks on Wednesday.
In a strike the night before, Israel said its military hit a weapons storage facility used by Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria. At least one person was killed and 30 wounded, including children, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement.
In response, Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military base in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Two homes were damaged in the village of Katzrin, the Israeli military said, and at least one person was wounded when dozens of shots were fired from Lebanon into the area.
An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, posted photos on social media of what he said were damaged homes in Katzrin, and said, “There were no other targets in the area other than civilian settlements and children on summer vacation.”
“Attacks on our civilians will not go unanswered,” he continued.
In another attack, state media and Palestinian officials in Lebanon said an Israeli air strike in the coastal city of Sidon on Wednesday killed the brother of a senior official of the Palestinian faction Fatah's military wing.
Khalil al-Maqdah, brother of General Mounir al-Maqdah, was killed in an attack on a vehicle, the state-run National News Agency said.
Israeli officials have accused Mounir al-Maqdah of facilitating arms smuggling into the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Mounir al-Maqdah told the Beirut-based pan-Arab TV network Al Mayadeen Wednesday that his brother was a brigadier general in Fatah's armed wing and he vowed his group would “respond inside Israel.”
Earlier this month, another Israeli drone strike hit an SUV on a main road in Sidon, killing a Hamas official identified as Samer al-Haj.
Since the war in Gaza began in October, more than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon, including at least 100 civilians. In Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed.
Gallant visited northern Israel on Tuesday, telling troops there that Israel had reduced its activity in Gaza, where it has been fighting Hamas for 10-1/2 months, and was gradually shifting its focus to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
“Our camp is moving from south to north, we are changing gradually,” Gallant told the troops, adding, “We still have some missions in the south.”
Hezbollah immediately attacked Israel after Hamas's shocking Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in near-daily fighting since, raising fears of a wider regional war, especially after Hezbollah vowed to retaliate for an Israeli strike in Beirut last month that killed a senior Hezbollah commander. (uh/lt)
