Multiple injuries in Israel after rocket attack targets Tel Aviv
Fire erupts as interceptor missile shrapnel hits power line in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 18, 2024. (Photo via The Times of Israel)
Air raid sirens sounded across Tel Aviv and central Israel Monday as long-range rockets launched from Lebanon breached air defenses, striking a densely populated area near Azrieli Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb, causing a fire outside the mall, according to Israeli media outlet Israel Hayom.
At least five Israelis were injured Monday after a rocket launched from Lebanon hit the greater Tel Aviv area, causing a fire to break out, according to Israeli media.
The Israeli military reported that it had intercepted a rocket aimed at the greater Tel Aviv region. However, broadcaster Channel 12 reported five injured as rockets launched from Lebanon struck the area.
The daily Israel Hayom noted that a rocket hit near a shopping center in the city of Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, resulting in a fire at the site.
For its part, Channel 12 said fire erupted as shrapnel from an interceptor missile hit a power line in Ramat Gan.
Meanwhile, Israeli police later contradicted the military’s claimed interception. Tel Aviv police chief Haim Sargerof confirmed that the incident involved a direct hit from a heavy rocket, not an intercepted missile, as the military had claimed.
Sargerof provided details on the damage, saying that parts of the rocket’s engine had caused significant destruction to a building, igniting a nearby electricity pole and starting a fire, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
Woman killed, 10 injured in northern Israel
Meanwhile, the barrage, launched by Hezbollah, also resulted in at least one woman killed and 10 others injured, when a rocket fired from Lebanon struck a building in the city of Shefa-Amr.
The woman, in her 50s, was inside a fortified room in a three-story building when the rocket struck the building, causing her death, according to Magen David Adom (Israeli emergency services).
The remaining 10 people, who sustained minor injuries from shattering glass, were evacuated from the building, the service added.
Shefa-Amr is an Arab city occupied by Israel in 1948, located in the Western Galilee region.
Local media reported that take-offs and landings at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport were temporarily suspended amid the ongoing attacks.
The Israeli military reported that about 15 rockets were launched from Lebanon in the past hour, targeting northern Israel, including the Western, Upper, and Central Galilee. The army claimed to have intercepted some of the rockets, while the others fell in open areas.
Last Tuesday, two Israelis were killed when a rocket struck a residential building in the settlement of Nahariya in the Western Galilee.
Israel has been engaged in cross-border warfare with Lebanon over Tel Aviv’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, launching an air campaign in its northern neighbor against what it claims are targets of the Hezbollah group in late September.
More than 3,500 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in Lebanon, with nearly 15,000 injured and more than a million displaced since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.
Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 this year.
