Dozens were injured, including four soldiers killed, in a Hezbollah drone attack on a Golani Brigade training base near Binyamina on Sunday. The drone, a Sayyad 107, struck the base's dining hall, where the brigade's recruits were eating dinner. Eyewitness accounts from the scene and hospitals describe the aftermath as harrowing.
Images from the base show a blood-stained floor where the drone exploded. One soldier who witnessed the blast said, "I had just finished eating and was heading to the corridor to return my tray when I heard a massive boom. The metal door bent from the impact. We didn't understand what happened, then something burst through the ceiling of the dining hall. We heard nothing beforehand—just the explosion. There was no alarm. We ran to the shelter, and that's when I saw soldiers needed tourniquets. Many were bleeding heavily. We helped them reach the shelter and waited there."
Parents of a soldier evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, where more than half of the 58 wounded soldiers were taken, recounted their panic. "A friend called and told us our son had been hit in the head and was bleeding. He managed to call his sister, said he was hurt but okay," said the mother. "We rushed here. We just want to see him and hold him. It's hard to handle this pressure, we can't even breathe."
The father of another wounded soldier said, "He has two shrapnel injuries, one in his head and one in his arm, but he's okay and fully conscious. He said they suddenly heard a boom, but there was no alarm."
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Blood on the dining hall floor after Hezbollah drone strike on Golani Brigade training base
Magen David Adom paramedic Rafi Sheva described the scene: "Dozens of MDA teams arrived. We declared a mass-casualty event and treated the wounded. It was a devastating scene—blast and shrapnel injuries everywhere. The injured were evacuated quickly by MDA teams and helicopters to hospitals."
A total of 115 units of blood were sent to Hillel Yaffe for the 36 soldiers admitted there, while another 40 units were delivered to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. Dr. Yehoram Klein, head of emergency surgery and trauma at Sheba, said three soldiers were airlifted to the hospital, including two transferred from Hillel Yaffe in serious condition. "All of them were wounded by shrapnel," he said.
First responders evacuating wounded after drone strike on Golani Brigade training office
(Video: Gil Nechushtan, Elad Gershgorn, Lior El-Hai, Raanan Ben-Zur, Dana Kopel, MDA, Rambam )
Earlier on Sunday evening, Hezbollah launched two drones. Israel's air defense intercepted one after alarms were triggered at 6:50 p.m. in the Western Galilee, including Acre and Nahariya. However, a second drone penetrated deeper into Israel, striking the military base near Binyamina without triggering an alarm.
The IDF is investigating why no warning was sounded. Preliminary findings indicate that both drones entered Israel from Lebanon via the sea. The drones, likely Iranian-made Sayyad 107 models, were detected by Israeli monitoring systems. One was intercepted off the coast of Nahariya, while the second was tracked by Israeli aircraft until contact was lost. Minutes later, it exploded, causing mass casualties.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, particularly in Beirut. A Hezbollah official cited by Al Jazeera said the organization had launched a "swarm of drones" during the attack, claiming the terrorist group's capabilities remain strong and capable of reaching deep into Israel.
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