The heavy rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel is continuing on Thursday, according to the Israeli military.
"Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel over the past few hours, approximately 40 projectiles were launched toward the Galilee and Golan Heights area," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) wrote on its Telegram channel. It said numerous launches were successfully intercepted but "a number of hits" ignited fires in the area.
In addition, three of the five suspicious aerial targets were intercepted by Israel's missile defence system, the IDF said.
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia fired around 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the targeted killing of a senior commander by Israel. There is great concern about a dangerous escalation of the conflict.
Israeli media reported that a house in Kibbutz Jiron in the border region was directly hit. Rocket fragments fell in the town of Safed in northern Israel and in Katzrin on the occupied Golan Heights, where paramedics said two people were injured by rocket fragments.
Several people were injured by falling while running into shelters, and there were also several shock injuries.
Several fires broke out along the border in Israeli territory, according to Israeli media reports. The region is currently experiencing particularly hot and dry weather, making it easy for fires to spread.
The IDF has fired incendiary projectiles with what looks like a medieval-type catapult or trebuchet device across the border into Lebanon, Israeli media reported. The aim was apparently to burn dense undergrowth in the border area so that enemy fighters could not hide there, the public broadcaster Kan reported on Thursday.
A video circulating on social media showed Israeli soldiers next to the unusual unit hurling a fireball over a high wall.
Kan, quoting the IDF, said the use of the weapon was only a "local initiative" and it is not widespreadly used by the army.
Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah have been fighting each other since the beginning of the war in Gaza and the fighting has become increasingly fierce. On both sides of the border, the attacks repeatedly lead to fires which spread quickly in the hot, dry weather there.
