After a few comparatively quiet days, northern Israel found itself pummeled by Hizbullah fire on Wednesday. One person was killed and at least 11 wounded as a result of the more than 200 rockets that rained down.
An Israeli man is rushed into an ambulance after a rocket attack fired by Hizbullah guerrillas from Lebanon hit Kiryat Shmona, wounding two Israelis.
Photo: AP
52-year-old David Martin Laucher was killed on Wednesday afternoon while riding his bicycle in Kibbutz Sa'ar, near Nahariya, after a rocket scored a direct hit on one of the kibbutz homes.
Bringing another city under Hizbullah's sights, A Khabar-1 rocket landed near Beit She'an Wednesday. Israel, which claims the rocket is Iranian-made, confirmed the hit and said at least seven people were wounded.
Beit Shean is about 70 kilometers (42 miles) south of the Lebanese border and marks the farthest town to date to come under fire.
The death marked the first fatality since rockets began raining down all over the North on Wednesday morning after a relative lull in rocket attacks for two days.
At least eight people were wounded by shrapnel - one in serious condition - in the morning's attacks, and 20 people were treated for shock.
David Martin Laucher, z"l, was killed by a rocket at Kibbutz Sa'ar.
Photo: Channel 10
More than 200 rockets have fallen on northern cities so far.
A barrage of at least six rockets reportedly fell in Haifa late Wednesday afternoon. No casualties or damage were reported.
Warning sirens blared in Nahariya, Acre, Tiberias, Haifa, Hatzor, Kiryat Shmona and Safed, followed by rocket landings. A rocket scored a direct hit on a house in Acre. However, the family had already taken cover inside a shelter and so were unharmed.
A house in Kiryat Shmona was also damaged by a rocket but its inhabitants were unscathed. An empty house in Tiberias was hit, as well.
A stray rocket also struck the West Bank for the first time. The rocket landed near the town of Jenin, between the villages of Fakua and Jalboun, leaving a 2-meter crater. Four casualties were reported; two moderately wounded and two lightly wounded.
"We know that they did not intend to strike Palestinian territory. They intended to strike Israel," said Fahmi Zarer, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. "It was only a technical problem that made this rocket land here in the Palestinian territories."
Earlier Wednesday morning, two rockets landed in open areas near Safed, five landed near Rosh Pina, and another five landed near Ma'alot, Army Radio reported.
Very early Wednesday morning, rockets or mortars fell near Kiryat Shmona as well.
AP contributed to this report.
