CNN
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More than 60 people were injured, many seriously, in a drone attack in north-central Israel, according to first responders.
There were no immediate official reports on deaths from the attack, but the large number of casualties – with the United Hatzalah rescue service saying it “provided assistance to more than 60 wounded” – makes it one of the deadliest attacks since the war began last October.
The news comes after Hezbollah announced on Sunday that it had launched a swarm of attack drones at an Israeli infantry training camp in Binyamina, a town north of Tel Aviv located about 40 miles from the Lebanese border. The Lebanon-based armed group said the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Thursday that killed 22 people and injured 117 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Hezbollah said it targeted the Golani Brigade, an Israeli army infantry unit deployed in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s statement came shortly after the armed group published an audio message from its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah calling on members to “defend your people, your family, your nation, your values and your dignity.”
CNN was unable to verify whether the drone had bombed an Israeli army training camp, but the Israeli military said on Sunday that a drone launched from Lebanon had struck near Binyamina. Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli army said it intercepted a drone launched by Lebanon, without specifying its location. It was not immediately clear whether this was the same accident that led to the injuries.
Israeli air defense systems tend to be very reliable, but on Sunday, there were no reports of alerts in the Binyamina area at the time of the attack, raising questions about how the drone was able to penetrate deep into Israeli territory without being detected.
Sunday’s drone attack comes two days after another attack in which the Israeli military said two drones were launched from Lebanon. It said it intercepted one of those drones, but did not specify what happened to the other. In Friday’s attack, sirens sounded, and a nursing home in the coastal city of Herzliya in central Israel was damaged, and no injuries were reported.
In Sunday’s attack, United Hatzalah said helicopters and ambulances evacuated all the wounded, whose injuries were described as ranging from “serious” and “severe” to “moderate and mild.”
The Binyamina attack comes approximately two weeks after Israel launched a ground operation in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has insisted that the operation is “local” and “limited” – although the reality on the ground suggests it may be preparing for a wider invasion.
The IDF issued evacuation orders for a quarter of Lebanese territory and deployed units from four different IDF divisions to the border area, while also continuing an intense bombing campaign.
More than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 8,000 wounded in Lebanon since September 16, when Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah, according to a CNN tally of Lebanese Health Ministry data.
The injured were transferred from Binyamina to hospitals throughout Israel. Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in north-central Israel said it was treating 36 victims of what it described as a “drone accident,” adding that there were “varying degrees of injuries.”
Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center in Ramat Gan told CNN it was treating three people injured in an accident in Binyamina, two of whom were in critical condition, while Rambam Hospital in Haifa said it was treating three other people.
The Emek Medical Center in northern Israel said it was treating four wounded. Beilinson Hospital said it was treating three others, and Bnei Zion Medical Center in Haifa also said it was treating three.
CNN contacted the Israeli army to obtain more information.
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