Seven people in the North were wounded by Hezbollah rockets on Monday, as the terrorist group fired around 175 projectiles, mostly at Haifa and its bayside suburbs.
The IDF said the air force and artillery batteries targeted a rocket launcher in response, promising to continue defending its civilians.
Four people were wounded in a barrage on Kiryat Ata, and three others, including a one-year-old girl, were wounded when a rocket hit the northern Arab town of Bi’ina. The victims suffered light to moderate wounds. Several rockets directly hit civilian areas, damaging property as well.
Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated network Al-Maydeen said Hezbollah launched two ballistic missiles during the attack.Late Monday night, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the diplomatic, operational, and tactical situation for attacking Iran’s nuclear program has never been as doable, realistic, and likely as it is now.
Katz noted how Israel’s two counterattacks on Iran – following Tehran’s attacks on April 13-14 and October 1 – have made it clear how superior the IAF is to even the most advanced aspects of the Islamic Republic’s air defense systems.
“There is an opportunity to achieve the most important goal – to thwart and remove the threat of destruction hanging over the State of Israel.
Israel targets Iran sites amid tensions
“Today there is a broad national and defense establishment consensus that we need to thwart the Iranian nuclear program and there is an understanding that this is doable – not only on the security front, but also on the diplomatic front,” said Katz.
Despite the defense minister’s statement, many officials, including former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, called for the air force to strike Iran’s nuclear program on October 26.
Instead, the Air Force was ordered by the government to strike about 20 ballistic missile production and air defense sites in Iran.
By press time, Katz’s office had not responded to an inquiry about whether Israel was ready to strike Iran’s nuclear program, given that the government chose not to do so on October 26.
In addition, Katz said there would be no ceasefire with Hezbollah unless three conditions were met: It commits to remaining north of the Litani River; Israel retains the right to ensure Hezbollah’s side of the deal is upheld; and Israel be given leeway to attack weapon-smuggling attempts.
Although the IDF has been attacking weapon-smuggling attempts focused on Syria for years, between wars, they still began too late to prevent Hezbollah from growing its rocket arsenal to 150,000 rockets – until the current war.In the war in Gaza, the IDF announced on Monday that Maj. (res.) Itamar Levin Fridman, 34, from Eilat and of the special counter-terror LOTAR Unit, was killed by an anti-tank missile while fighting in Jabalya.
The IDF added that Nahal Brigade troops, operating under the Gaza Division command, had carried out narrow and focused operations on terrorist sites around Rafah in recent months, based on highly specific intelligence as opposed to earlier stages in the war when invasions of Gaza were broader and more fluid.
Recently, some of these operations led to both the elimination of multiple terrorists and the discovery of weapon storage facilities with enemy ammunition stockpiles left behind in the Shabura neighborhood of Rafah.
In a search near a mosque and hospital, the brigade’s engineering forces dismantled a weapons storage facility containing observation equipment, drones, manufacturing supplies, explosive devices, and dozens of mortar shells.Additionally, the brigade struck multiple terrorist infrastructure sites, armed cells, anti-tank missile sites, weapons storage locations, and underground facilities.
The IDF said it had halted, inspected, and arrested a suspicious “humanitarian” caravan that turned out to be terrorists disguised as aid workers to smuggle weapons.
During its inspection, the military found weapons, leading to the arrest of those involved. The military turned the terrorists over to special IDF interrogations Unit 504.
Finally, the IDF emphasized that the caravan had not succeeded in sneaking through an Israeli crossing but rather had merely been trying to travel between northern and southern Gaza.
Overnight, the IDF, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Border Police apprehended eight suspects across the West Bank.
In Beit Umar, troops detained one wanted suspect and seized dozens of canisters containing explosives. In Rabud, soldiers confiscated an M-16 rifle, while in Jelazoun, a handgun was seized. Several individuals were also questioned for suspected terror activity.
Additionally, operations in villages across the northeastern part of the West Bank led to the arrest of four suspects, with the seizure of a drone and military equipment. In Nablus, three more suspects were detained.
Darcie Grunblatt and Yuval Barnea contributed to this report.