Elad Fingerhut, 38, named as man killed by Hezbollah missile as rocket salvos intensify
Fingerhut, a father of 3, was killed while trying to assist soldiers injured in attack by Lebanese terror group; 60 rockets target Mount Meron area
An Israeli civilian killed in an anti-tank guided missile attack Tuesday against a military position near the northern community of Adamit was identified Wednesday as Elad Fingerhut, 38, a father of three.
In the same incident, five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were injured, one moderately and four lightly. The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack.
Fingerhut arrived at the scene to assist in aiding soldiers hurt by a first Hezbollah missile before he was hit by a second guided munition. A third projectile also hit a tether to an IDF surveillance balloon at the military position, leading the balloon to float away and crash in Lebanon.
Originally from Efrat, Fingerhut lived in Kibbutz Matzuva in northern Israel. His children reportedly live in Katzrin with his ex-wife.
Fingerhut’s parents were informed of their son’s death while traveling in China, the Ynet news site reported.
“I’ve known Elad from an early age. He was a charming person who worked in gardening, loved the earth and was modest and shy,” Rozney Brown, a friend of the family, told Ynet.
“He went to a friend on Independence Day to bring things for soldiers over there, and by the will of God he was hurt. We don’t know what God’s considerations are, [Fingerhut] just wanted to do good by the soldiers.”
On Wednesday, the military said, a barrage of some 60 rockets was launched from Lebanon at northern Israel, mostly targeting Mount Meron, atop which sits a sensitive air traffic control base.
At least one heavy rocket was fired at the Biranit army base on the Lebanon border amid the barrage on Mount Meron.
Several of the rockets were intercepted by air defenses, while some caused “minor damage,” the IDF said, adding that there were no injuries resulting from the attack.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, saying it targeted the Mount Meron base with dozens of missiles, as well as the Biranit base with additional projectiles.
The terror group has targeted Mount Meron several times amid the ongoing war, launching large barrages of rockets at the mountain, as well as guided missiles at the air traffic control base atop it.
The terror group said the attacks were a response to the killing of a top field commander, Hussein Ibrahim Makki, in an IDF drone strike on Tuesday night.
According to the IDF, Makki was a senior commander in the terror group’s so-called Southern Front unit, and he had previously commanded Hezbollah’s coastal division.
Also Wednesday, the Lebanon branch of the Palestinian terror group Hamas took responsibility for launching a barrage of rockets at the Western Galilee, claiming to have targeted a military base in the area. Sirens had sounded in the largely evacuated communities of Rosh Hanikra, Betzet, and Shlomi.
According to the IDF, at least 10 rockets were fired, all striking open areas in the Western Galilee, causing no injuries.
Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.
So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in ten civilian deaths on the Israeli side — including Tuesday’s attack — as well as the deaths of 14 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries. Hezbollah has named 297 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria.
In Lebanon, another 60 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and at least 60 civilians have been killed.
The hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese terror organization have caused tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese to evacuate from their homes, leaving them displaced since the beginning of the war.
