Five injured in Haifa after air defenses fail to intercept Hezbollah rocket barrage

Man in his 20s seriously injured by shrapnel in barrage on Tiberias; IDF says it’s investigating failure to intercept rockets; Israeli airstrikes hit Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold

The impact site of a rocket fired from Lebanon at Haifa in northern Israel, October 6, 2024. (Screenshot, X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The impact site of a rocket fired from Lebanon at Haifa in northern Israel, October 6, 2024. (Screenshot, X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Five people were wounded in Haifa on Sunday when Israel’s air defenses failed to intercept a barrage of five rockets launched from Lebanon, allowing at least one rocket to strike a busy urban area. One person was also seriously injured in a separate barrage launched at Tiberias shortly after.

The Hezbollah terror group took responsibility for the rockets fired at Haifa shortly before midnight, claiming that it had targeted an unnamed military base south of the city with Fadi-1 missiles.

Footage captured in Haifa, however, appeared to show heavy damage at a traffic circle struck by a rocket, while other videos showed smoke rising above apartments during the barrage.

In the aftermath of the attack, the Rambam Medical Center said it was treating five people who were struck by shrapnel during the attack.

One of the victims was moderately injured while the other four were lightly hurt. None of the wounded were in life-threatening condition, the hospital stated.

In addition to the five being treated for physical injuries, the hospital said it was treating one person for acute anxiety caused by the strike.

In a statement confirming the reports of direct rocket impacts in the city, the IDF said it was investigating its failure to intercept the rockets but noted that “interception attempts were made.”

Following the rocket impacts in Haifa, several rockets were launched from Lebanon at Tiberias and other towns near the Sea of Galilee in the first attack on the area since Thursday.

A man in his 20s was seriously injured in the barrage fired at the lakeside city, Magen David Adom said, adding that he was suffering from shrapnel wounds to his chest and abdomen.

The man was in serious but stable condition, the ambulance service said, and he was taken to the nearby Baruch Padeh Medical Center for treatment.

At the same time as the rocket barrage struck Haifa, another 15 rockets were fired at the Kiryat Shmona area, several of which were intercepted by air defenses, while others impacted the area without any reports of having caused injuries.

Haifa’s Mayor Yona Yahav visited the scene of the rocket strike in the early hours of Monday morning.

“This is the first real damage to the city, and I hope it will be the last,” he was cited by Ynet as saying at the end of his visit. “There is destruction here that needs to be repaired… at the end of the inspection, the municipality will come in and take care of this place.”

Earlier on Sunday evening, police said that they had received reports of rocket impacts in the northern city of Karmiel and surrounding towns.

“Property was damaged as a result of the impacts,” the police said, adding that there had been no reports of injuries.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying in a message that it had fired a volley of rockets at Karmiel in response to Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon earlier in the day.

Unverified reports put the number of rockets fired in the volley at around two dozen.

In total, some 120 rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israel throughout the day on Sunday, the IDF said.

Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, October 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Also on Sunday night, the IDF said that fighter jets struck targets belonging to Hezbollah’s intelligence division in Beirut, including surveillance equipment, command centers, and other infrastructure.

Additional airstrikes in Beirut targeted Hezbollah weapons depots, the military said, noting that secondary explosions were identified following the strikes, indicating the presence of weaponry.

The strikes were carried out after the military called on civilians to flee the area surrounding four specific Hezbollah sites in Beirut’s southern suburbs — a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh.

The IDF said that airstrikes had also targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley, including weapons storage facilities, infrastructure sites, a command center, and a rocket launcher.

Syrian media also reported that the Israeli Air Force had carried out strikes in the center of the country on Sunday evening.

Citing a military source, the state-run SANA news agency claimed that Israeli warplanes targeted several military sites in central Syria, launching missiles from over northern Lebanon. It claimed Syria’s air defenses were activated by the attack.

The strikes caused “material losses,” SANA said, while the pro-government Sham FM Radio said the strikes were carried out in the Homs area.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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