JERUSALEM (news agencies) — Over 100 rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon early Sunday, with some landing near the northern city of Haifa, as Israel and the Hezbollah militant group appeared to be spiraling toward all-out war following months of escalating tensions.
Israeli first responders say the early morning barrage on Sunday wounded at least three people near Haifa, damaged buildings and set cars on fire.
The barrage came after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut killed at least 37 people, including one of the Lebanese militant group’s senior leaders as well as women and children. Hezbollah was already reeling from a sophisticated attack using thousands of explosive personal devices just days earlier.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire since the outbreak of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, when the militant group began firing rockets in solidarity with the Palestinians and its fellow Iran-backed ally Hamas. The low-level fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the frontier.
Neither side is believed to be seeking a war. But in recent weeks, Israel has shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon and vowed to return calm to the border so that its citizens can return to their homes. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which appears increasingly elusive as long-running negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly bogged down.
Israeli media reported that rockets fired from Lebanon were intercepted in the areas of Haifa and Nazareth, which are further south than most of the rocket fire to date. Israel canceled school across the north, deepening the sense of crisis.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said three people were wounded by rocket fire on Kiryat Bialik near Haifa, where fire and rescue services said several buildings had been damaged and cars were on fire. Firefighters were searching nearby buildings. It was not immediately clear if the damage was caused by the rockets or Israeli interceptors. Hezbollah said it had targeted a military base nearby.
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