Israeli jets carried out strikes in southern Lebanon Wednesday after a woman was killed and others injured by rockets raining down on northern Israel, officials said.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari said “an extensive wave of attacks in Lebanese territory” had been launched, a retaliatory move for a barrage of rockets that hit Safed and a military base in the northern city. A woman was killed and eight other people were wounded by the rockets, according to medical officials cited by The Times of Israel.
The Israeli strikes hit villages across southern Lebanon and killed four people, security sources told Reuters. Among the dead were a woman and her two children, the sources said, while Hezbollah said one of its fighters had been killed in another village. Eleven other people were wounded. The IDF said it had struck “targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization” including military buildings, combat personnel, and infrastructure used by the group.
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Hezbollah and the IDF have been engaged in cross-border violence since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday said his forces will not stop fighting Israel until it ends its war in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials say over 28,500 people have been killed as a result of the four-month conflict.
Over 200 people—including more than 170 Hezbollah militants—have been killed in Lebanon in the clashes, while several Israeli civilians and around a dozen IDF troops have also died. The bloodshed has caused tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to be displaced.
International efforts to reduce tensions in the region in recent weeks have yet to produce any meaningful results, with Wednesday’s back-and-forth attacks a serious escalation in the violence. Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that “time is running out” for a diplomatic solution to be reached in Lebanon, saying that his nation “will act militarily” to return its displaced citizens if necessary.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hard-right national security minister, reacted unambiguously to the rocket attacks, saying: “These are not drips, this is war.” Avigdor Liberman, a former adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, went as far as accusing the government of surrendering to Hezbollah and losing control of the north of the country.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi met with the leaders of Israel’s northern municipalities in the wake of the rocket attack, assuring them that residents “will return to their homes and the area will flourish again,” according to Haaretz. “We have already made achievements in harming Hezbollah in Lebanon, but we continue to operate - this is not the time to stop,” he added. “We are intensifying the hit, and they are paying a growing price.”
