IDF Pushes Forward in Gaza, Lebanon as Hezbollah Fires Hundreds of Rockets

Over the Yom Kippur holiday, Hezbollah fired around 320 projectiles at northern Israel.

By JNS

Intense battles on Israel’s borders with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip continued throughout the Yom Kippur holiday, with Hezbollah firing around 320 projectiles at northern Israel.

“On the holiest holiday for the Jewish people, approx. 320 projectiles were fired by Hezbollah toward Israeli civilians. This should tell you everything you need to know about our enemies,” tweeted the IDF spokesperson on Saturday night.

Two unmanned aerial vehicles invaded Israel’s airspace from Lebanon on Friday evening, one exploding in a Herzliya retirement home, the other intercepted. No injuries were reported, as the tenants, some of them Holocaust survivors, had quickly walked to the complex’s protected area after hearing warning sirens.

A wide hole through the window of a tenant’s room was apparent in the wake of the strike. A large Israeli flag was hung on the windowsill in the morning after the attack.

Late on Saturday night, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” on its way to Israel from the direction of the Red Sea. The threat did not enter Israel’s airspace, according to the military.

In Lebanon, Israeli forces continued the “forceful and surgical” ground operation against Hezbollah terrorists, while destroying the group’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

“The IDF killed 50 terrorists in face-to-face encounters and with the aid of the Israeli Air Force, while destroying from the air and artillery more than 200 terrorist targets of Hezbollah,” the Israel Defense Forces said.

The troops located underground tunnel shafts, dozens of weapons storage facilities, rocket launchers, mortar bombs and anti-tank missiles, according to the statement.

The IDF further declared a closed military zone in northern Israel in the territory stretching from the towns of Zarit and Shomera to Even Menachem in the central Upper Galilee area. “Entering this area is strictly prohibited,” the IDF said.

Meanwhile in the city of Jabaliya, north of Gaza City, the IDF’s 162nd Division eliminated more than 20 terrorists, according to the military.

Some 200 terrorists have been killed since the operation in Jabaliya commenced on Oct. 1, the IDF said.

In total, the Israeli Air Force struck around 280 terrorist targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, including underground infrastructure, arms depots, command centers, terrorist squads and other military infrastructure over the weekend, the IDF concluded.