At least 19 people including six soldiers were wounded in northern Israel on Tuesday after Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants launched drone attacks, emergency officials said, as world leaders try to stop tensions in the Middle East from boiling over into a regional war.
Most of the people were hurt by an Israeli interceptor rocket that missed and hit the ground. Local authorities issued sweeping new guidelines in northern Israel for all residents to “avoid all non-vital activity and to stay near a safe area” until further notice. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months during the war in Gaza.
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli fire during military raids killed 10 Palestinians, including four teenagers, and wounded another 10, Palestinian officials said.
Efforts continue around the region to prevent the war from becoming a wider conflict after the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas’ top political leader in Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet over the weekend that Israel is already in a “multi-front war” with Iran and its proxies.
Inside Gaza, the only corridor for humanitarian aid to enter the south has been shut down because of fighting in the area. The Palestinian territory faces a severe humanitarian crisis as its Health Ministry says the death toll in the war approaches 40,000.
