This is the second time in two days that a drone has struck in Israel. On Saturday, during the Israeli holiday of Yom Kippur, a suburb of Tel Aviv was hit, causing damage but no injuries.
In other developments, the United States said it would send to Israel an advanced anti-missile system and about 100 American troops to operate it, in a bid to bolster the country’s air defences following missile attacks by Iran on October 1.
Initial reports suggested dozens of people were hurt near Binyamina, Israel, in Hezbollah’s drone strike.Credit: Getty Images
US President Joe Biden said he was sending the system to defend Israel.
Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery would augment Israel’s integrated air defence system.
“It is part of the broader adjustments the US military has made in recent months, to support the defence of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias,” Ryder said in a statement.
The ground-based THAAD has a power radar and is designed to defend against ballistic missiles, the US last sent it one to the Middle East last year. US deployment of the system to South Korea in 2016 angered China, which believed it could peer into its airspace. The THAAD can hit targets at ranges of 150 to 200 kilometres.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned earlier that the US was putting the lives of its troops “at risk by deploying them to operate US missile systems in Israel”.
“While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests,” Araghchi posted on X.
On October 1, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel amid an escalation in fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Many were intercepted in flight, but some penetrated missile defences.
International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on UN peacekeepers since the start of the ground operation in Lebanon. The military says Hezbollah operates near the peacekeepers, without providing evidence.
A THAAD launching station is ready to be loaded onto a military transport plane in Fort Bliss, Texas.Credit: US Air Force/AP
The peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL (UN Interim Forces in Lebanon) said Israeli tanks forcibly entered the gates of one of its positions on Sunday and destroyed the main gate, and later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers in that location, causing skin irritation.
UNIFIL said the incident was a “further flagrant violation of international law”.
Israeli strikes have wounded five peacekeepers in recent days.
Israel’s military said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers backed into a UN post while under fire. It said a smoke screen was used to provide cover.
The rubble of a house destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Deir Billa, Lebanon. Three people were reportedly killed.Credit: Getty Images
Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani asserted that Israel has tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL and that any instance of UN forces being harmed will be investigated at “the highest level”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate, accusing them of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah.
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“We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury,” Netanyahu said in a video addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has been banned from entering Israel. “But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone.”
Israel has long accused the United Nations of being biased against it, and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has accused the UN agency for Palestinian refugees of being infiltrated by Hamas, allegations the agency denies.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people including children at a school on Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. The school in Nuseirat in central Gaza was sheltering some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war. The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said at least 15 children and women were among those killed and 80 others were wounded.
Israeli forces also widened their raid into northern Gaza and tanks reached the north edge of Gaza City, pounding some districts of the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood and forcing many families to leave their homes, residents said.
Residents said Israeli forces had effectively isolated Beit Hanoun, Jabalia, and Beit Lahiya in the far north of the enclave from Gaza City, blocking access between the two areas except upon permission for families willing to heed evacuation orders and leave the three towns.
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Nine days into a major Israeli operation in northern Gaza, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israeli strikes had killed around 300 Palestinians there.
It said Israel’s bombardment of civilian houses and displacement shelters was intended to force residents to leave Gaza once and for all, which Israel denies.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said dozens of people have been confirmed killed in the assaults on northern areas, with many dozens of others feared dead on roads and under the rubble of houses beyond the reach of medical teams.