Elad Fingerhut, a 38-year-old father of three was named as the civilian who was killed on Tuesday in a Hezbollah rocket attack on the northern border. He was in the area delivering supplies for the troops when anti-tank fire began. He then rushed to assist soldiers who were hurt when more missiles were fired.
Fingerhut, originally from the West Bank settlement of Efrat was living in the Western Galilee Kibbutz of Metzuba.
"He was not a man of many words," a friend told Ynet. "We cannot know the ways of the Lord. Elad just wanted to do good for the soldiers there." Since the start of the war, 24 soldiers and civilians were killed by Hezbollah fire.
The anti-tank missiles that caused moderate injury to one soldier, and light injuries to four others, made a direct hit on Adamit, a community close to the Israel-Lebanon border. The military launched an aerial attack in response, targeting Hezbollah military structures in South Lebanon.
The terror group claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had succeeded and shooting down an observation balloon as well.
The IDF confirmed that the balloon was shot down but added that there was no risk to military intelligence, although there had been an attempt to prevent the balloon from crossing into Lebanon and landing there. According to local media reports, the camera attached to the balloon was taken by the Lebanese army.
The IDF carried out a targeted killing of a senior commander in Hezbollah traveling with his bodyguard in the area of Tyre. On Wednesday, Hezbollah launched some 60 rockets at an air base in northern Israel and also targeted the city of Kiryat Shmona, in response to the killing.