Rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel as regional tensions soar

While most of the 36 rockets were intercepted by Israel’s aerial defense system, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), at least six landed in Israeli territory, and a 19-year-old man was lightly injured with shrapnel.

“We will cripple our enemies and they will pay a price for every act of aggression,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday after meeting with his security cabinet.

“We know for sure it’s Palestinian fire,” Lt. Col. Richard Hect, the IDF’s international spokesman, told reporters earlier on Thursday. “It could be Hamas. It could be Islamic Jihad. We’re still trying to finalize it. But it wasn’t Hezbollah,” he added, referring to the Shiite armed group that is Lebanon’s most dominant political force.

“We’re very concerned about the violence there,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing Thursday, adding that “we call on all sides to de-escalate.”

No group in Lebanon or in the occupied Palestinian territories immediately claimed responsibility for Thursday’s strikes, but, as with previous attacks, they coincided with flaring tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

The escalation followed a second night of violence around Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque, as Israeli police stormed the area using stun grenades, rubber bullets and batons to disperse thousands of worshipers who had gathered in the courtyard for Ramadan prayers.

At least six Palestinians were injured, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. It said 37 were injured the night before when Israeli officers stormed into one of the mosque’s main prayer halls after worshipers had locked themselves inside. Worshipers threw stones and firecrackers at them, police said, and videos from the scene showed officers beating people with batons.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincides this year with the Jewish Passover holiday, a situation that Israeli security officials have long warned could lead to violent escalation as worshipers gather in greater numbers and far-right supporters of Netanyahu’s government test a decades-old status quo around Jerusalem’s holy esplanade, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Shadi Mtour, a Fatah leader in Jerusalem, warned on Wednesday that “These incursions are the gateway to evil, and al-Aqsa Mosque is exposed to them every year, and the entire region is exposed to danger.”

Hezbollah now controls the largest number of seats in Lebanon’s parliament and casts itself as a symbol of resistance to Israel and a defender of the Palestinian cause. Lebanon is also home to Palestinian armed groups that are suspected of launching smaller rocket attacks in recent years.

Thursday’s violence came amid a visit to Lebanon by Ismail Haniyeh, the political chief of Hamas — the militant group that rules Gaza. During a meeting with Palestinian factions in Lebanon on Thursday, Haniyeh was defiant: “Our people and the factions of resistance will not stand with our hands tied in front of this brute aggression,” he was quoted as saying by Al Manar television.

Lebanese media reported that the army has been dispatched to the south of the country to locate the launch site, but an army spokesman remained vague. “The army is already there anyway,” said Col. George Khoury, adding that members of the army usually check on such developments. He said more details would be given later.

In a statement, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon described the situation as “extremely serious.”

Dadouch reported from Beirut. Miriam Berger in Washington contributed to this report.