Rocket fire from Lebanon kills 7 in Israel as U.S. officials try to push for cease-fires

Deadly rocket barrages from Lebanon into Israel kill foreign workers and Israelis, sparking U.S. diplomatic efforts for cease-fires.

“Rocket barrages from Lebanon into northern Israel killed four foreign workers and three Israelis on Thursday (October 31, 2024),” Israeli medics said, the deadliest cross-border strikes in Israel since it invaded Lebanon. Israel kept up airstrikes it says targeted Hezbollah militants across Lebanon, where health authorities on Thursday (October 31, 2024) reported 24 people killed.

U.S. diplomats were in the region pushing for cease-fires in both Lebanon and Gaza, hoping to wind down the wars in the Middle East as Mr. Biden’s administration enters its final months. Pressure has been building ahead of the U.S. election next week.

In northern Gaza, Israeli forces struck one of the last functioning hospitals, destroying much-needed supplies that the World Health Organization had delivered to the facility, the U.N. agency said. “The strikes set off a fire that affected the dialysis unit, destroyed water tanks, damaged the surgery building and injured four medics trying to extinguish the blaze, said the hospital’s director,” Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment about a strike on the hospital, which it stormed last week after alleging it was harboring Hamas militants. Gaza's Health Ministry on Thursday (October 31, 2024) condemned Israeli attacks on the hospital and called on the international community to safeguard medical facilities in Gaza.

“Projectiles from Lebanon crashed into an agricultural area in Metula, Israel’s northernmost town, killing four Thai workers and an Israeli farmer,” officials said.

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Hours later, the Israeli military reported another volley of some 25 rockets from Lebanon, striking an olive grove in a suburb of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa. “That strike killed a 30-year-old man and a 60-year-old woman while wounding two others,” said Magen David Adom, Israel’s main emergency medical organization.