Israeli police attack worshipers at the Jerusalem Mosque
Israel and Lebanon are technically still at war after multiple conflicts. The border between the two countries is patrolled by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (FINUL), which aims to ensure the ceasefire.
The Israeli army reported that 34 rockets were fired from Lebanon this Thursday: 25 were intercepted by antiaircraft defenses and at least five hit Israeli territory.
Warning sirens were sounded in the cities of Shlomi and Moshav Betzet and in the Galilee region of northern Israel ahead of the attack.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The previous rocket launch from Lebanon against Israel took place in April 2022.
Lebanon’s National Information Agency reported that Israeli artillery fired “several projectiles from their border positions” at two locations in southern Lebanon.
The agency, which did not release a casualty figure, said the bombings were in response to the firing of “several Katyushatype rockets” at Israel.
An Israeli military spokesman denied the reports, saying the army “did not respond at this time”.
The rocket attack came at a time of high tension after police intervened on the Esplanade of Mosques in Jerusalem.
“The situation is extremely serious at the moment. FINUL asks for restraint to avoid an even greater escalation,” FINUL said.
In Fassouta, a city in northern Israel, an AFP journalist observed a missile wreck on a street.
In Shlomi, another AFP team observed shops hit by a rocket blast.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is receiving “continuous updates on the security situation and will assess the scenario with the commanders of the security forces,” his office announced.
According to the emergency services, a 19yearold man was slightly injured by shrapnel and a woman.
According to a spokesman, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been briefed on what is happening on the northern border.
Clashes on the Esplanade Israel has drawn international criticism after a police operation in the early hours of Wednesday to forcibly remove Palestinian worshipers from the esplanade of the mosques of Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site.
The intervention, which police said ended with 350 detained and 37 wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, sparked an increase in rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli shelling.
The incident occurred during celebrations of the Jewish Passover and the Muslim month of Ramadan.
Hezbollah, an influential Lebanese and proIranian movement that has an armed wing, said it would support any action by Palestinian organizations against Israel in the wake of the clashes.
Hezbollah, Israel’s enemy, has good relations with the Islamist Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, and with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.