Hezbollah fired a large barrage of rockets and drones Sunday morning on the Lower Galilee region in northern Israel in which a 28-year-old farmer was severely wounded by a direct hit on the agricultural field he was working on in the town of Kfar Zeitim near Tiberias.
The attack was carried out as retaliation by the Lebanese terrorist organization for the assassination of a senior operative deep in Lebanon the day before. The moment of impact was captured by a nearby surveillance camera.
Hezbollah rocket hits agricultural field in Kfar Zeitim, northern Israel
(Video: Hadar Daniel)
The injured man was attended to by a Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service team, which evacuated him to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. Hospital director Dr. Noam Yehudai provided an update at noon on his situation, saying that he was in stable condition and that there was no immediate risk to his life.
"He arrived with shrapnel injuries to his upper body, fully conscious, and was triaged in our emergency room. His condition is currently classified as moderate to severe with shrapnel injuries," said Dr. Yehudai. He added that the man will undergo surgery to remove shrapnel from "significant locations" in his body.
Mimi Daniel, a resident of Kfar Zeitim, and her husband were at home when sirens suddenly broke the silence in the sleepy little town. "I woke up to the sirens and we ran to the safe room. After about fifteen minutes, we saw shrapnel in the house, glass shards. The young man was injured near us," she told Ynet, emphasizing that the damage could have been much worse. "It surprised us."
Her son, Hadar, showed the Ynet team shrapnel that had penetrated his home, including the living room.
David Daniel, 74, also a resident of Kfar Zeitim, reported that his home was also damaged in the attack. "The shutters flew off," he said, noting that his shed was also damaged. He expressed surprise at the unusual rocket fire targeting the town.
Another resident, Daniel Pesach, recounted, "There was a very loud explosion around 10:30 a.m. I ran to the safe room, and only after the rocket fell did the siren go off. It's surprising that it landed here. It's because of the proximity to the military base nearby. [Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan] Nasrallah knows which bases are here, which is why he fired at the base - and it's fortunate that only one person was injured."
Hezbollah claimed to have launched "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at bases in the northern region, "west of Tiberias." The terrorist organization said that the barrage was a response to the assassination of Meitham Alattar, a senior member of the group's air defense unit, who was killed in a drone strike on his car in the Baalbek area, approximately 70 miles from the Israeli border. This retaliatory barrage follows an even heavier barrage of over 200 rockets and drones last Thursday in response to the assassination of a high-ranking field commander.
The IDF reported that roughly 20 projectiles crossed from Lebanon into the Lower Galilee in Sunday morning's barrage, with some being successfully intercepted by air defenses. As with previous barrages, rocket impacts caused a series of brush fires, with firefighting teams reporting "multiple fire sites" in fields around Tiberias, including the Arbel Nature Reserve, which was closed to visitors due to the blaze.
Arbel Nature Reserve on fire after Hezbollah attack
(Video: Israel Nature and Parks Authority)
According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, as of Sunday, approximately 25,866 acres of land have burned in northern Israel since the beginning of the year, with half of the fires occurring in nature reserves and national parks and the other half in forests and fields.
Thursday and Friday's fires, following the large barrage from Lebanon, consumed approximately 3,129 acres - constituting about 12% of the total fires in northern Israel so far this year. The most significantly affected area is the Golan Heights region, with approximately 12,355 acres burned, followed by the Upper Galilee with approximately 10,625 acres. Nationwide, approximately 47,743 acres of land have burned since the beginning of the year.
In response to the barrage, the Air Force launched a wave of strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, with the first target being attacked in the town of Marwahin, north of Tyre, about 20 kilometers from Metula. Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese network Al Mayadeen reported an attack in the southern Lebanon village of Ayta ash-Shab as well.