Israel fires on Lebanon after rocket attack in the heaviest exchange since ceasefire

BEIRUT — Israel struck Lebanon on Saturday in retaliation for rockets targeting Israel, killing six people including a child, in the heaviest exchange of fire since its ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began almost four months ago.

The barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon was the second launched since December and again sparked concern about whether the ceasefire would hold. In a statement, Hezbollah denied being responsible for the latest attack, saying it was committed to the truce.

Israel’s army said the intercepted rockets targeted the Israeli town of Metula. An Israeli official said six rockets were fired and three crossed into Israeli territory and were intercepted. The official said Israel could not confirm the identity of the group that fired the rockets.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had instructed the army to act forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon. Israel’s army said it struck Hezbollah command centers and dozens of rocket launchers.

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Touline killed five people, including a child, and wounded 10 others, including two children, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Another Israeli strike Saturday night hit a garage in the coastal city of Tyre, the National News Agency reported, with one person killed and seven wounded. It was the first time the city had been struck since the ceasefire took effect.

And a strike on Hawsh al-Sayed Ali village along the border with Syria wounded five people, the agency reported.

In a statement, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam asked the Lebanese military to take all necessary measures in the south but said the country did not want to return to war.

Hezbollah began launching rockets, drones and missiles into Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of Gaza ignited the war there. The Israel-Hezbollah conflict boiled over into all-out war in September as Israel carried out massive waves of airstrikes and killed most of the militant group’s senior leaders. The fighting killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced about 60,000 Israelis.

Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January under a ceasefire struck on Nov. 27. The deadline was extended to Feb. 18.

But Israel has remained in five locations in Lebanon, across from communities in northern Israel. It has carried out dozens of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it attacked Hezbollah, while continuing drone attacks that have killed several members of the militant group.

Lebanon has appealed to the U.N. to pressure Israel to fully withdraw from the country.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it was alarmed at the possible escalation of violence and urged all parties to avoid jeopardizing the progress made.

Israeli airstrikes pound Gaza

The strikes came a day after Israel said it would carry out operations in the Gaza Strip “with increasing intensity” until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israeli strikes Friday night killed at least nine people, including three children, in a house in Gaza City, according to Al Ahli Hospital, which received the bodies.

“Rubble and glass started falling on us,” said Sameh al-Mashharawi, who lost his brother in the attack. He mourned with his young nephew Samir al-Mashharawi, whose parents and siblings were killed. The 12-year-old, his head and wrists bandaged, sat in the back of a truck and cried.

Israel’s military said Friday that its forces were planning fresh assaults into three neighborhoods west of Gaza City and issued warnings on social media for Palestinians to evacuate the areas.

“Hamas, unfortunately, understands military pressure,” Netanyahu’s foreign policy advisor, Ophir Falk, said.

About 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed its attacks in Gaza this week. Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to the territory’s roughly 2 million people, aiming to pressure Hamas over ceasefire negotiations.

The international community has condemned the renewed attacks.

The initial 2023 attack by Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Tens of thousands of Israelis on Saturday again protested the government’s failure to negotiate a hostage deal and its move to fire the head of the country’s Shin Bet internal security service. They called for new elections.

The Supreme Court has ordered a temporary halt to Ronen Bar’s dismissal until an appeal is heard. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss him.

Netanyahu said in a statement late Saturday that Bar “will not remain the head of the Shin Bet” and “Israel will remain a democratic state.” He said that his loss of confidence in Bar long predates the Shin Bet investigation into illicit ties between several of his aides and Qatar.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called for a tax rebellion and general strike if the government defies the ruling, saying: “If this happens, the entire country needs to grind to a halt.”

Mroue and Shurafa write for the Associated Press and reported from Beirut and Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip. AP writers Ibrahim Hazboun in Kfar Haoranim, West Bank; Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv; Samy Magdy in Cairo; and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.