The group later said they were targeting Israel’s elite Golani Brigade, firing dozens of missiles to overwhelm Israeli air defense systems during the attack by “squadrons” of drones. Israel’s National Rescue Service said the attack left 61 injured. Iron Dome is the best known part of Israel’s air defence and is currently called into action dozens of times a day to intercept rockets that Hezbollah fires from south Lebanon.
And it generally works well. Here in northern Israel we often see white traces in the sky as several rockets are taken down at once.
The success of Iron Dome is due in part to the predictable flightpath of the more basic Hezbollah rockets. to Israel’s advanced air defense systems, it is rare that so many people are injured by drones or missiles. Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire almost daily since the war in Gaza began, and the fighting has intensified. Israel began its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this month in an effort to weaken Hezbollah and push the militant group away from the border to allow thousands of displaced Israelis to return home. Inside Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people, including children, at a school Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. The Nuseirat School housed some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war. Meanwhile, explosions occurred early Monday outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing three people and injuring about 50 others, the hospital said. Tents caught fire and residents of the community in central Gaza took the injured to the hospital. Hezbollah’s deadly attack on Israel came on the same day the United States announced it would send a new air defense system to Israel to help bolster missile defense, along with the troops needed to operate it. An Israeli military spokesman declined to give a timetable. Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – two militant groups backed by Iran – and is expected to hit Iran in retaliation for a missile attack earlier this month. Iran has said it will respond to any Israeli attack. UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said Israeli tanks forced through the gates of a position early Sunday and destroyed the main gate. They then fire smoke shells near the peacekeepers, causing skin irritation. UNIFIL called the incident “another flagrant violation of international law.”
International criticism is mounting after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on UN peacekeepers since the start of the ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers were injured in attacks on their positions, most of which were blamed on Israeli forces. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, called Sunday’s incident “deeply disturbing” and said attacks on peacekeepers could amount to a war crime. The Israeli military says Hezbollah operates in close proximity to peacekeeping forces, without providing evidence. Military officials said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers crashed into a UN post on Sunday while under fire. A smokescreen was used for cover, they said. Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Israel had tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL and that any case of injury against UN forces would be investigated “at the highest level.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on UNIFIL on Sunday to heed Israel’s evacuation notices, accusing it of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah.
