ISRAEL: Rockets fired by Hizbollah guerrillas kill two and injure 90, as Israeli offiicals say the military action in wake of soldiers' abduction is justified

Record ID: 398039

  • Title: ISRAEL: Rockets fired by Hizbollah guerrillas kill two and injure 90, as Israeli offiicals say the military action in wake of soldiers' abduction is justified
  • Date: 14th July 2006
  • Summary: MAN ON HOSPITAL TROLLEY IN HOSPITAL MAN WITH NECK BRACE ON HOSPITAL TROLLEY WOMAN WITH BANDAGE OVER MOUTH LYING IN HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 29th July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA8SFSOZH43CLJ3SXEMLSTD5584
  • Story Text: Hizbollah guerrillas fired barrages of rockets from Lebanon into towns and cities across northern Israel on Thursday (July 13, 2006), killing two civilians and wounding 90 others in their heaviest bombardment in a decade.
    The dead from the attacks included a 40-year-old woman in the coastal city of Nahariya who was sipping coffee on the balcony of her apartment complex when rockets started falling.
    The other victim was a 45-year-old man who died of wounds sustained in an earlier attack on the town of Safed.
    Officials ordered tens of thousands of residents into bomb shelters and basements along northern Israel as tensions escalated sharply a day after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border attacks.
    Police said more than 90 rockets had landed across northern Israel, causing panic throughout the population. Cars were damaged, windows blown out and electricity to some residents cut, officials said.
    Medics said 27 people including children were also wounded in Nahariya, 10 km (six miles) south of the Lebanese border. Included in that toll was Reuters cameraman Rami Amichai who's leg was injured by shrapnel from a blast caused by an incoming rocket.
    Nahariya Mayor Jackie Sabag said his city was shut down. Thousands sought safer ground in the south with mixed results.
    Israel' s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, held meeting with military leaders throughout the day to discuss the military situation, which appeared to be deteriorating throughout the day.
    But while rockets fell in northern Israel, and Israel responded with an offensive, funeral were conducted for some of the Israeli soldiers killed in the initial raid that set-off the conflict.
    In Tel Aviv a funeral was held for a Druze soldier, who was buried in a flag-draped casket.
    Little however was known, about the fate of the two Israeli soldiers captured in the raid in northern Israel. Photos of the soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldvaser were released to the public.
    Two rockets hit the port of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, in a move Israel described as a "major escalation". There were no reports of any injuries. Haifa, home to 250,000 people, lies 30 km (18 miles) from the Lebanese border.
    Amidst the turmoil, a few dozen protesters chanted against Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon outside of the Defence Ministry building in Tel Aviv.
    In addition to Lebanon, Israel has been engaged in an offensive in Gaza to free another captured soldier and stop Palestinian militants firing rockets into the Jewish state.
    The Gaza offensive has killed around 80 Palestinians including dozens of civilians, piling pressure on the Hamas government, already reeling from a Western aid embargo. One Israeli soldier has been killed.
    Israel vowed on Wednesday a severe response to Hizbollah's raids. The violence is the worst between Israel and Lebanon since 1996 when Israeli troops still occupied part of the south.
    The Israeli army pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.
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