Israel’s military chief today warned ‘We are at war’ after a Hezbollah drone attack killed four 19-year-old Israeli soldiers at an army base and injured more than 60 other troops.
The strike on the Binyamina base, 20 miles south of Haifa on Sunday night, was the deadliest attack on an Israeli base since Jerusalem stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.
All those killed were blown up as they ate in the camp’s food hall.
But the attack by Hezbollah came as Israeli forces also continued expanding their own operations in southern Lebanon, hitting more than 200 targets over the weekend, killing 51 people on Sunday alone.
Visiting the army camp where the four teenaged soldiers were killed, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi yesterday said: “We at war, and an attack on a training base in the rear is difficult and the results are painful.”
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said the military would learn lessons from the deadly drone strike.
Also touring the site where the attack happened, he said: “We must investigate it, study the details, and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner.
“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] attacks.”
In a statement, volunteer emergency response organisation United Hatzalah told how conditions of the many wounded troops ranged from mild to critical.
It said all had been taken to five regional hospitals, either by ambulance or helicopter.
Initial investigations suggested that two Hezbollah drones were tracked by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) on Sunday night – but while one was shot down off the coast near Haifa, the military then lost track of the second.
The drone was initially assumed to have crashed or been intercepted after dropping off IAF radars, before exploding on the army base with deadly force.
The strike killed the four young Israeli soldiers – all of them 19 years old – and injured scores of others.
The IDF said a further 10 ‘projectiles’ – the term it usually uses for rockets – also crossed into the Haifa area from Lebanon this morning, with sirens heard in the are. There were no injuries reported.
Some 22 of those killed were in the Mount Lebanon region, in the north of the country, while 10 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the southern Nabatieh region.
Five others were killed and one wounded in a raid on the village of Maifadoun, west of Beaufort Castle.
Hamas-run authorities said the strike on Sunday meant Israeli raids in northern Gaza had now killed 150 people in the past week alone.
The Hamas-run Civil Defence Agency added that another 80 people were injured by the strike on the Nuseirat camp on Sunday.
The IDF has not commented but has previously said Hamas uses civilian shelters as military bases.
Terrified residents told how the Israeli military had also now completely encircled the tent camp at Jabalia and ordered them to leave via just one corridor.
Some 10 people were killed in fresh raids there.
Many still in the camp said they simply had nowhere to go.
