‘Swarm of drones’: 67 injured in Hezbollah drone strike on Israel

Over 60 people have been injured after Hezbollah launched a ‘swarm of drones’ on Israel.

An army training camp deep into central Israel has been hit in a surprise drone attack by Hezbollah, with more than 60 people injured.

The Lebanese militant group said it launched a “swarm of drones” on a Golani Brigade military training camp in Binyamina, south of Haifa.

The group said that the strike was carried out “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honourable resistance, and in defence of Lebanon and its people”.

Hezbollah said it launched a “swarm of drones” on the training camp.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday it had intercepted another drone “that was launched from Lebanon in the northern naval area”.

It did not specify where the drone was intercepted.

Rescue service United Hatzalah said it “provided assistance to over 60 wounded people with varying degrees of injuries – critical, serious, moderate and mild”.

“Helicopters and ambulances evacuated all the wounded,” it said.

Israeli media is reporting 67 people have been injured in the attack, with four critically wounded.

Emergency service provider Magen David Adom (MDA) said the incident was the result of a “very serious” drone strike.

“When we arrived, we saw a very serious scene of a UAV hit,” Rafi Sheva, a senior official with MDA, said.

“There were many wounded, wounded by the blast and wounded by shrapnel, who were injured in all parts of their bodies,” he added.

“This is a major incident in terms of casualties.”

Israeli security forces secure the area at the site of a drone strike near the northern Israeli town of Binyamina. Picture: Oren ZIV/AFP

Emergency services personnel attend the scene of the drone strike. Picture: Amir Levy/Getty

The incident comes two days after air raid sirens sounded in central Israel after two aerial drones entered the country from Lebanon, with at least one building damaged north of Tel Aviv during the incident.

Hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets and drones across the border into Israel for over a year, but has reached further since late September when fighting escalated.

Israel’s sophisticated air defences, including the Iron Dome system, has intercepted most of the projectiles, with few casualties caused by strikes or falling debris.

Gaza rescuers say Israeli drone strike kills five children

In Gaza, the civil defence agency said on Sunday five children had been killed by an Israeli drone strike in the Al-Shati refugee camp in the latest deadly air raid involving minors.

“Our teams have recovered the bodies of five martyrs, all children, after an Israeli drone targeted a group of children playing in … Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City,” said Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence.

“The bodies were transported to Al-Shifa Hospital, located in the western part of the city.”

According to Gaza’s health ministry, 42,227 people have been killed in Israeli attacks over the past year, a majority of them women and children.

The United Nations acknowledges the figures to be reliable.

Hamas triggered the ongoing conflict in Gaza with the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. It resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

– With AFP
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Originally published as ‘Swarm of drones’: 67 injured in Hezbollah drone strike on Israel