Four IDF soldiers killed in drone strikes on army base, Israel says
Hezbollah called the attack near Binyamina city a retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday, ITV News' Correspondent Peter Smith reports
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and more than 60 were injured in a drone attack on an army base in central northern Israel.
Seven soldiers have been described as “severely injured” after the attack on the base in Binyamina on Sunday.
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said targeted an Israeli army training camp.
The militant group said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon that killed 22 people and injured 117, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
It later said it targeted Israel’s elite Golani brigade, launching dozens of missiles to occupy Israeli air defence systems during the assault by “squadrons” of drones.
The IDF said it had “intercepted a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that was launched from Lebanon in the northern naval area".
The IDF did not specify exactly where the drone was intercepted, but it came after Hezbollah said it had fired a swarm of attack drones on the Golani training camp in Binyamina, south of Haifa.
Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in north-central Israel said it was treating 36 casualties with “various degrees of injury.”
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon says Israeli tanks forced their way into one of its bases on Sunday, as ITV News Correspondent John Ray reports
The attack comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that UN peacekeepers are in "harm's way".
Speaking in a video address on Sunday, Netanyahu appealed directly to the UN Secretary-General, General António Guterres, adding: "The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones.
"Your refusal to evacuate UNIFIL soldiers has turned them into hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers.''
Around 40 countries with soldiers serving as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said they “strongly condemn” recent attacks on peacekeepers, in a joint statement released on Saturday.
The statement was posted on X by Poland’s mission to the UN after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported a fifth member of the peacekeeping force was injured in southern Lebanon on Friday.
“Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated,” the statement said. “We urge the parties of the conflict to respect UNIFIL’s presence, which entails the obligation to guarantee the safety and security of its personnel at all times.”
Co-signatories of the statement include the UK, France, India, Germany and Spain.
Since Thursday, UNIFIL has reported that two peacekeepers were injured after an Israeli tank fired toward its observation tower in Naqoura, causing it to collapse. On Friday UNIFIL said a further two were hurt after two explosions near the observation tower.
Sri Lanka and Indonesia, whose nationals were among the injured, condemned the incidents.
On Friday a fifth peacekeeper was hit by gunfire at its headquarters in Naqoura due to ongoing military activity nearby, according to a UNIFIL statement released on Saturday.
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The US said on Sunday that it would send one of its most powerful anti-missile systems, THAAD, to Israel "to help bolster its air defences."
About 100 US soldiers will be deployed into the country to operate the system.
The wider region has become embroiled in conflict, with tensions continuing to increase along the Israel-Lebanon border.
A quarter of Lebanese territory is under evacuation orders amid Israeli airstrikes and a ground incursion, while the country’s prime minister made another push for a ceasefire on Saturday.
Netanyahu held a cabinet meeting on Sunday as the country’s leaders weighed their response to Iran’s October 1 missile attack.
Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters have been clashing since October 8, 2023, when the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets over the border in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
In recent weeks, Israel has conducted a major aerial bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion that it says aims to push Hezbollah back from the border and allow displaced residents of northern Israel to return.
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