Israel was forced to fend off rocket attacks from its foes in the north and south of the country today as its citizens commemorated the first anniversary of Hamas‘ atrocities on October 7 last year.
A rocket fired by Hezbollah across Israel’s northern border slammed into the city of Haifa south of Tel Aviv overnight, with security footage showing the moment the projectile erupted in a ferocious explosion in a quiet residential street.
Hours later, more rockets soared over Israel’s southern border and impacted targets in Tel Aviv and elsewhere as Hamas sought to wreak havoc a year on from one of the darkest days in Jewish history since the Holocaust.
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Israeli President Isaac Herzog began the day with a minute of silence at 6:29am – the moment Hamas’ cross-border insurgency started – at the site of the Nova music festival near Re’im where heavily armed Hamas fighters killed at least 370 people.
But minutes later the service was marred by air raid sirens as Hamas declared it launched projectiles at the ‘enemy gatherings’ just a few kilometres from the border with Gaza, as well as at Tel Aviv.
Images emerged later Monday morning showed civilians and rescue workers inspecting damage to various buildings caused by rockets or falling shrapnel, while videos showed smoke trailing from craters near Israel’s cultural and commercial capital.
WORDS FROM ISRAEL
The Israeli army said several Hamas rockets were downed by air defence systems, adding that it had foiled what would have been a much larger attack after it ‘struck Hamas launch posts and underground terrorist infrastructure throughout the Gaza Strip’.
But some projectiles still hit their targets, while Hezbollah announced it had let loose two salvos of ‘Fadi 1’ missiles on Haifa and Tiberias.
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NUMBER OF VICTIMS
It is unclear whether anyone was killed in the attacks, but images emerging from blast sites in Israel showed spatters of blood inside homes as rescuers investigated the wreckage.
The attacks prompted an IDF spokesperson to issue an evacuation order to residents in several regions of southern Gaza ahead of an ‘extreme response’, before the military said was also launching ‘targeted’ strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut.
‘Due to Hamas’ terrorist acts, which will be met with extreme force, you must evacuate these areas immediately and move to the humanitarian area an Al-Mawasi,’ the IDF’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said.
