2023-12-27 04:02:21
The Israeli army announced Tuesday that nine of its soldiers and a civilian were injured by missile fire from Lebanese Hezbollah, including one that hit a church in an Arab village in northern Israel.
“Hezbollah attacked the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of Iqrit, in northern Israel,” the army said in a statement. “An anti-tank missile from Lebanon directly hit the church, injuring a civilian. This attack constitutes not only a blatant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, but also an attack on freedom of religion,” she continued.
“War crimes” according to the IDF
The army then announced that nine soldiers had been injured, including one seriously, by new Hezbollah fire while helping the injured civilian in the church. By “indiscriminately attacking places of worship,” Hezbollah “is committing war crimes,” said Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli army.
Hezbollah, which says it acts in support of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, announced the death of two of its fighters on Tuesday. He also claimed responsibility for several attacks on military positions in northern Israel on Tuesday, claiming in particular to have targeted a barracks with “Burkan-type missiles”.
The Lebanese Shiite movement “endangers the stability of the region for the benefit of Hamas,” accused Daniel Hagari. The inhabitants of Iqrit were driven from their land by the Israeli army shortly after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.
The church hit Tuesday by the missile according to the army, as well as a cemetery, are the only vestiges that remain of the village which the Israeli army had destroyed on Christmas Eve in 1951 to prevent the return of its inhabitants after a decision of the Israeli Supreme Court.
More than 150 deaths on the Lebanese side since October 7
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7, exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have been almost daily on the border. .
The violence on the border has left more than 150 dead on the Lebanese side, mostly Hezbollah fighters, and at least 13 on the Israeli side, including nine soldiers, since October 7.
Two people were injured Tuesday by Israeli fire in the Lebanese town of Touline, 10 km from the Lebanese-Israeli border, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA). On November 20, NNA reported that the St. George Church in the village of Yaroun suffered “significant damage” after being hit by Israeli artillery fire.
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