Rockets fired from Lebanon have killed seven people in northern Israel, authorities say.
Agricultural areas along the border and near the city of Haifa were hit in what was the deadliest attack to come from Lebanon since earlier this month.
Four foreign workers and an Israeli farmer were killed in an attack on Israel’s northernmost town of Metula, which has been largely evacuated due to the ongoing conflict.
A second barrage of about 25 rockets killed a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman in a Haifa suburb, leaving two others wounded.
The agricultural areas along Israel’s border, where much of the country’s orchards are located, are closed military zones patrolled by Israeli troops and can only be entered with official permission.
For the few remaining residents in the area, the thud of missile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system and the constant wail of sirens warning of incoming rocket fire punctuate daily life.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets, drones and missiles at Israel and provoked ferocious Israeli retaliatory attacks throughout the year outside the Gaza Strip triggered the Israeli invasion and bombing of the Palestinian enclave.
Both Hezbollah and the Palestinian military group Hamas are supported by Iran, Israel’s regional adversary.
The military group did not immediately claim responsibility for Thursday’s attack.
Over the past year, Israel’s escalating campaign against Hezbollah has killed 2,800 people in Lebanon, injured nearly 13,000 and devastated Lebanese cities near the border.
Around 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced since the Israeli escalation in September.
And around 60,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate their communities near the border with Lebanon.
The conflict along Israel’s northern border escalated into full-blown war last month, when Israel launched a wave of heavy airstrikes on Lebanon that killed and most of his deputies.
The most recent assault came as top U.S. diplomats were in the region to push for ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza.
Senior US officials hope to end wars in the Middle East in the final months of the Biden administration, as pressure mounts ahead of next week’s US elections.