Home Front to ease restrictions in more parts of Israel

4 hurt as Hezbollah rocket hits Kiryat Shmona; Iran missile fragment hits Haifa oil refinery

Kiryat Shmona mayor laments that those with limited mobility can’t reach shelter in time; no serious damage or injuries reported in intercepted projectile’s impact on Bazan facility

By Emanuel Fabian, Sue Surkes and ToI Staff 20 March 2026, 12:54 am
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Security and rescue forces at the impact site of a rocket from Lebanon that hit a home in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, March 19, 2026. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
Security and rescue forces at the impact site of a rocket from Lebanon that hit a home in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, March 19, 2026. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Four people were injured Thursday evening as a Hezbollah rocket from Lebanon hit a home in Kiryat Shmona, and an Iranian missile fragment hit Haifa’s oil refinery, causing damage but no injuries, amid the Israeli-American war with Iran.

Fourteen missile salvos — more than in recent days — were fired Thursday at central, northern and southern Israel, as well as the Jerusalem area, where four sirens sounded within an hour around midnight. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Hezbollah kept up its frequent rocket and drone attacks on the north.

After the direct hit in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona in the evening, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said it had treated a man in his 60s in serious condition who sustained a shrapnel injury to his abdomen, a woman aged 68 in moderate condition who was injured in the head, and two men in their 20s who were lightly hurt by a blast.

All four were taken to a hospital, MDA said.

“We heard the sirens and entered the safe room, and then the boom came. I immediately understood that it hit the building. My balcony has fallen apart and there is damage in the house, but I’m okay,” Miriam Ben Shaia, who lives with her husband in the building that was hit, told the Ynet news site.

She said she returned to Kiryat Shmona a few months ago, after being displaced and living in Tiberias for two years amid the war that began in October 2023.

“The feeling is that nothing has changed; we simply went back in time,” she lamented.

People injured in a Hezbollah rocket strike on a home in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona arrive at Ziv Medical Center in Safed, March 19, 2026. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Kiryat Shmona Mayor Avichai Stern said it was a “matter of time” before something like this happened in the city, complaining that reaction times in cases of rocket attacks are too short, meaning elderly people and those with physical disabilities “have difficulties reaching protected spaces in the necessary timeframe.”

“Those in charge of the residents’ safety must understand that it is their responsibility to provide them with safer spaces,” Stern argued.

Bazan oil refinery hit

Meanwhile, one of Iran’s volleys of ballistic missiles toward the north on Thursday evening saw falling fragments from an intercepted missile hit the Bazan oil refinery in Haifa and cause power outages in the Krayot suburbs of the coastal city, according to the IDF.

Rescue services said there were no reports of injuries.

The military stressed that there had been no direct missile impacts at the facility. Energy Minister Eli Cohen said that “no significant damage to infrastructure sites” had been caused in the attack.

The Israel Fire and Rescue Service said the incident was under full control after 12 fire and rescue teams operated at the scene, scanned it and put out a fire at the site, with no casualties and no abnormal air pollution found. The Environmental Protection Ministry said the possibility of a hazardous materials incident had been ruled out.

Separately, footage showed a burning missile fragment crashing down in a Haifa street amid an Iranian attack shortly after midnight. No injuries were reported in the incident.

On Wednesday night, Iranian missiles killed a Thai worker in central Israel and four Palestinian women in the southern West Bank.

Israel has also continued to carry out regular airstrikes on military and regime targets throughout Iran.

The military said Thursday night that the Israeli Air Force had hit over 130 targets in western and central Iran in the past day, adding that the targets included ballistic missile launchers, drones and air defense systems.

Eased restrictions in parts of north, south

Also on Thursday evening, the IDF Home Front Command said it was set to ease wartime restrictions in more areas of the country deemed to be under less of a threat of Iran’s ballistic missiles or Hezbollah’s rocket attacks, allowing schools to reopen there after three weeks of war.

Following a fresh assessment, the Home Front Command said that from Sunday at 6 a.m., the activity scale in several more areas in the north and south would be adjusted from “limited activity” to “partial activity.” (A full list of locales can be found on the Home Front Command’s website).

This means that in those areas, educational institutions will be able to operate, provided there is an adequate shelter that can be reached in time. Gatherings of up to 100 people indoors and 50 people outdoors will also be permitted, under the same conditions.

In the rest of the country, educational activities are still prohibited. Gatherings are limited to 50 people, provided a shelter can be reached in time, and workplaces can operate under the same conditions.

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