Drone attack in Israel injures nearly 40 people as Hezbollah claims responsibility

Israeli emergency services said nearly 40 people were injured in a drone strike in the center of Binyamina on Sunday, including three in critical condition. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group claimed responsibility for one of the most serious attacks on Israel in a year of war.

Thanks to Israel’s advanced air defense systems, it is rare for so many people to be injured by drones or missiles. Israeli media reported that two drones were launched from Lebanon, and the military said one was intercepted.

It was not immediately clear who was injured, military or civilians, or what was hit.

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Hezbollah said in a statement that it targeted an Israeli military training camp in retaliation for two Israeli attacks in Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people.

This is the second time in two days that a drone has hit Israel. On Saturday, during the Israeli holiday of Yom Kippur, a drone struck a suburb of Tel Aviv, causing damage but no injuries.

The latest attack came on the same day the United States announced it would send a new air defense system to Israel to help strengthen its defense against missiles.

Israel is currently at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon – both Iran-backed militant groups – and is expected to strike against Iran in retaliation for a rocket attack that occurred earlier this month, although it did not specify how how and when. Iran has said it will respond to any Israeli attack.

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A year after entering the war with Hamas, Israel continues to strike almost daily against targets it considers militants in Gaza. One of the strikes late Saturday hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing parents and six of their children, aged 8 to 23, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies there.

“They were safe while he was sleeping and he and all his children were killed,” said the man’s brother, Mohammad Abu Ghali. Women stroked the body bags with tears in their eyes.

The Israeli military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas and other armed groups for their deaths because they operate in densely populated areas.