Hamas claims rocket barrage from Lebanon into north Israel

BEIRUT (AFP): Hamas’s armed wing said its militants in Lebanon’s south launched Monday a slew of rockets at a northern Israeli military position, as fighting has raged on in the Gaza Strip.

After Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with Israeli forces across the border.

Palestinian factions and other allied groups in Lebanon have also sometimes claimed attacks.

Hamas fighters “have fired a concentrated rocket barrage from south Lebanon toward” an Israeli military position, said the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades in a statement on Telegram.

The armed wing described the action as a “response to the massacres of the Zionist enemy (Israel)” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

the Israeli army told AFP that “approximately 20 launches crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory” but it had intercepted most rockets and struck “the sources of fire.”

“No injuries or damage were reported,” the army said.

The latest rocket barrage came as Hamas negotiators were expected to arrive in Egypt on Monday, where they were due to respond to Israel’s latest proposal for a long-sought truce in Gaza and hostage release.

On April 21, the Qassam Brigades claimed a rocket barrage into northern Israel.

A strike in January, which a US defense official said was carried out by Israel, killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh Al-Aruri and six other militants in Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold.

In Lebanon, at least 385 people have been killed in months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also 73 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

The tally includes at least 11 Hamas fighters.

Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.