Sirens warning of hostile aerial threats sounded throughout Monday in Israeli communities situated along the Lebanese border.
Since the morning hours, the Israel Defense Forces reported successive incidents of hostile aircraft infiltration of Israeli territory. There were no initial reports of injuries.
These included the areas of Moshav Shtula, the Bedouin village of Arab al-Aramshe and the town of Metula.
Several direct hits were recorded in northern Israel, including in Metula, according to the military. An unmanned aircraft also hit an area in Southern Lebanon where Israeli troops are operating, the IDF added.
The army noted that there were no casualties in the incident, which is under review.
The drone in Metula made a direct hit on a private residence where a senior and his nursing care worker were present, Ynet reported. They were unharmed, but the home caught fire; it was extinguished by members of the community’s emergency squad and fire and rescue forces, the report added.
Avi Nadiv, deputy head of the local council, is a neighbor of the senior citizen. His family had only recently moved back into Metula after their former home was destroyed by anti-tank missiles fired by Hezbollah during the early stages of the war, according to the report.
Speaking to the outlet, Nadiv said, “I’m afraid of having to go through everything I went through with the house all over again. It’s such a terrible feeling. This is not a situation we are prepared to live in. We have to wake up.”
He added that six air-raid sirens sounded in the area since the morning hours and that the direct impact of the drone took place almost simultaneously with the sounding of the siren warning of its approach.
“We want to develop Metula, and we have the strength to do it, but for the past month and a half we’ve been crying out that nothing is being done. Hezbollah has grown stronger and is now in a position where it allows itself to do this because we are not responding forcefully. It’s simply surreal. We are no longer willing to take this and no longer willing to live like this. ... Enough of this. [The government] needs to start acting and do the job,” Nadiv was quoted as saying.
Earlier on Monday, the military announced that an IDF soldier was killed in action in Southern Lebanon.
The slain man was identified as Sgt. Nehoray Leizer, 19, from Eilat.
