Israel鈥檚 army said Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into its territory from Lebanon on Sunday, with the militant group saying its attacks had targeted the Tel Aviv area and Israel鈥檚 south.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it had 鈥榣aunched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of attack drones on the Ashdod naval base鈥� in southern Israel.
Later, it said it fired 鈥榓 barrage of advanced missiles and a swarm of attack drones鈥� at a 鈥榤ilitary target鈥� in Tel Aviv, and had also launched a volley of missiles at the Glilot army intelligence base in the city鈥檚 suburbs.
The Israeli military did not comment on the specific attack claims when contacted by AFP.
But it said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded in several locations in central and northern Israel, including in the greater Tel Aviv suburbs.
It later reported that 鈥榓pproximately 160 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation have crossed from Lebanon into Israel鈥�.
Some of the projectiles were shot down.
Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a 鈥榤oderate to serious鈥� condition.
AFP images from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, showed several damaged and burned-out cars, and a house pockmarked by shrapnel.
The wave of projectiles follows at least four deadly Israeli strikes in central Beirut in the past week, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.
In a speech on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem had said the response to the recent strikes on the capital 鈥榤ust be expected on central Tel Aviv鈥�.
The Lebanese army, meanwhile, said that a soldier was killed on Sunday and 18 others injured, 鈥榠ncluding some with severe wounds, as a result of an Israeli attack targeting a Lebanese army centre in Amriyeh鈥�.
Though the Lebanese army is not a party to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes have killed 19 Lebanese soldiers in the last two months, authorities have said.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group鈥檚 October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the Gaza war.
Lebanon鈥檚 health ministry says at least 3,670 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them since September this year.
Meanwhile, Gaza鈥檚 civil defence agency said Sunday a drone strike overnight seriously injured a hospital chief in an attack on the healthcare facility, and 11 people were killed in Israeli raids on the Palestinian territory.
Hossam Abu Safiya heads the Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza, as the war-ravaged territory is in the grip of a dire humanitarian crisis.
Abu Safiya suffered an injury to his back and left thigh by metal fragments after an attack on the hospital complex, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
After losing a lot of blood, the doctor was in a 鈥榮table鈥� condition, Bassal said, adding an Israeli drone bombed the hospital in Beit Lahia, north Gaza.
Vowing to stop Hamas from regrouping, Israel on October 6 began an air and ground operation in Jabalia and then expanded it to Beit Lahia.
Hospital staff have reported several strikes on the facility, while the World Health Organisation chief said he was 鈥榙eeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including eight in the intensive care unit鈥� at Kamal Adwan hospital.
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been hit multiple times since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Palestinian militant group Hamas鈥檚 unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Gaza鈥檚 civil defence agency on Sunday morning also said 11 people, 鈥榠ncluding children鈥�, after two Israeli air strikes on Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza and artillery fire in Beit Lahia.
Witnesses also described artillery fire in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.
鈥業 am afraid,鈥� said 30-year-old Rania Abu Jazar, after she was forced to leave her makeshift shelter, a tent, in the early hours of the morning after intense fire.
鈥楳y children are hungry and my one-year-old daughter Amal鈥檚 milk is in the tent. I do not know what to do. If we return, they might shell us again, the tanks are blind and they do not care about killing children and women,鈥� she added.