CNN
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Israel intercepted a missile fired by Hezbollah near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, an unusual attack by the militant group that reached into the country's commercial heartland and into the conflict between the two sides. Marked a new incremental move.
People in Tel Aviv and the central city of Netanya woke up to sirens on Wednesday as Israel said its air defenses intercepted a surface-to-surface missile – the first time a missile fired by Hezbollah hit the city. Approached, the Israeli army said.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah confirmed it had launched a Qader 1 ballistic missile at the headquarters of Israel's intelligence service Mossad, which it claimed had targeted its members. including the coordinated detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies last week.
It is believed to be the first ballistic missile launched by Hezbollah towards Israel, and was fired “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in Gaza” and “in defense of Lebanon and its people.” ”
The Israeli military said the missile was intercepted near Tel Aviv, a city of more than 4 million people on the Mediterranean coast, and the air force struck its launcher in the southern Lebanese city of Nafhiya.
“After sirens sounded in the areas of Tel Aviv and Netanya, a surface-to-surface missile was identified as crossing Lebanon and was intercepted by the IDF air defense array,” the Israeli military said.
Israeli military spokesman Nadu Shoshani described the missile as “heavy” and “long-range”.
“This is the first time Hezbollah has fired at Tel Aviv,” he said.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly said that any Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital would be an attack on Israel's economic center.
Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange fire on Wednesday.
At least 19 people died in Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the country's public health ministry. Most of the deaths were reported in the south of the country, although three were killed in a mountain village north of Beirut.
It came as the Israeli military said it had launched “large-scale attacks” on Hezbollah in the south and east of the country.
The IDF told CNN it had hit more than 100 targets in Lebanon so far on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, according to the IDF, around 40 were estimated to have flown into Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday morning. Several were intercepted but one hit an assisted living facility in northern Israel, which was not reported.
Since the outbreak of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas last October, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones from Lebanon that have been targeting northern Israel.
About 60,000 people have been evacuated from Israel's northern region as a result of cross-border fighting. Israel has maintained that fighting will continue until it is safe for these residents to return home.
The missile hiatus comes days after Israeli strikes targeting Hezbollah killed more than 500 people in Lebanon, including dozens of children. Monday was Lebanon's deadliest day in nearly two decades.
Flights at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport continued as normal on Wednesday, an airport spokesman said.
Sirens were heard in Netanya for the first time since October 7, 2023, according to Israeli officials.
In recent days, Israel and Hezbollah have traded waves of airstrikes and rocket attacks, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes in southern Lebanon.
Israel has said it is targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure – which it says are embedded in residential areas. The Israeli military said Qubisi commanded various Hezbollah missile units and was killed along with two other commanders in south Beirut.
Residents who fled their homes in Lebanon said residential areas had been flattened and entire cities emptied. One man told CNN he witnessed “non-stop bombardment from every direction” in what he described as “indiscriminate bombing”.
The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) has warned that many children are caught “missing in the rubble” and “on dangerous streets” after Israeli airstrikes.
At least 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Monday, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abid said. Atty Higgins, UNICEF's deputy representative in Lebanon Atty Higgins, told a UN briefing that more children were killed in the country on a single day than last year.
Meanwhile, Lebanese hospitals are struggling with the influx of wounded, and those needing hospital treatment face difficulties as roads close to escape Israeli attacks. It was crowded with people trying. British Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Datta said the health care system was “very, very fragile” because it could not cope with more than 2,000 injuries in two days.
“We've got children, unfortunately, with a similar pattern of injuries that I used to see in Gaza,” Abu Dutta told CNN. “Blast injuries to the face, amputations of limbs, multiple shrapnel injuries, crush injuries resulting from houses collapsing on top of them.”
The country's foreign minister on Tuesday estimated that 1.5 million people have been displaced in Lebanon, with the number likely to rise.
Om Hussain's family was among the thousands who fled the south of the country. They spent 14 hours on the road to Beirut, stuck in traffic jams, and said they didn't have time to collect clothes or medicine. “We didn't have food or water, but volunteers on motorcycles distributed water to people trapped in cars,” he told CNN.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military warned displaced residents of southern Lebanon not to return to their homes as it vowed to step up its “offensive operations” against Hezbollah without retrenchment.
Israeli troops conducted exercises to simulate ground combat in Lebanon, which the military has not ruled out.
This is a developing story and will be updated.