Residential building in Safed sustains direct hit

700 rockets fall since Lebanon campaign's beginning; brush fire breaks out near Nahariya following barrage of five Katyushas.

By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF
map of north (photo credit: )
map of north
(photo credit: )
Talkback quota full; click here to respond Previous 400 talkbacks A Katyusha rocket landed in Yesud Hama'ala on Israel's northern border on Friday afternoon. MDA reported several people were wounded in the attack. Thirteen people were wounded in the latest bombardment of rockets on Safed and Nahariya on Friday afternoon. A rocket landing in Safed hit a residential building. Two of the wounded in Safed sustained moderate wounds, the other eight were lightly wounded. The wounded in Nahariya were all reported to be in light condition. Rockets also reportedly landed near Hatzor, Bar'am, Mahanayim, Horfesh, though no one was reported wounded. Nahariya also sustained another barrage of five Katyusha just an hour earlier, causing a brush fire in an open area. Western Galilee fire fighters were working to control the flames. For Home Front Command safety information click here. MDA reported that since the morning hours, 49 people were wounded along the northern border. Two of those were wounded moderately, 25 lightly, while 20 others suffered from shock. Over 700 Katyusha rockets and mortar shells have been fired on northern Israel in the current offensive in Lebanon, a senior IDF official reported on Friday. This continuous barrage of rockets included several Katyushas that landed in Nahariya and the surrounding area and one that hit a house in Kiryat Shmona early Friday afternoon. No one was wounded in the attacks, which followed close on the heels of four rockets that landed near Rosh Pina and Safed earlier in the day and caused power failures in the area, but no injuries.
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Also earlier Friday, several Katyushas landed near Kibbutz Bar'am in the Northern Galilee. No one was wounded, and no damage was reported. Meanwhile, the second fatality in the Safed attack on Thursday evening was identified as Nitzan Roseban, 33, a Safed resident. Roseban was seriously wounded when a Katyusha rocket landed near his motorcycle, and died of his wounds in the hospital. Army spokesman Cpt. Jacob Dallal announced that Israel "cannot tolerate a situation where a terrorist organization is operating from a sovereign country on our northern border and threatening well over half a million Israeli civilians." On Thursday, in a drastic escalation of what has become a war across Israel's northern border, Hizbullah fired Katyusha rockets that landed in Haifa and Nahariya while the IDF laid siege to Lebanon, imposing a naval blockade and bombing Beirut's international airport. Late Thursday night, the IDF's Home Front Command ordered up to a million residents throughout the North - including Haifa, Acre, Nahariya, Safed, Kiryat Shmona and nearby communities - to stay in shelters in case of additional attacks. Argentinean immigrant Monica Lehrer Zeidman, 40, was killed after a Katyusha rocket hit her home in Nahariya and several others were reported to be in critical and serious conditions from rocket attacks in Safed. A man in Safed later died of his wounds. In total, over 120 Israelis were injured on Thursday after over 100 Katyusha rockets landed throughout northern Israel. The cities that sustained the most rocket attacks were Nahariya and Safed. Hizbullah also repeatedly bombarded nearby communities throughout the day, while the IDF conducted a massive operation against Lebanon following the capture of two Israeli soldiers during Wednesday's Hizbullah attack along the northern border. Eight other soldiers were killed in that attack.