Israel’s Gantz vows ‘strong’ response to rocket fire from Lebanon

By Anadolu staff

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday vowed a “strong” response to rocket fire from southern Lebanon.

An Israeli was killed and seven others were injured in a barrage of rockets targeting a military base in Safad in northern Israel on Wednesday.

The Israeli army responded with an “extensive” wave of airstrikes that have killed four people and injured nine others, according to Lebanon’s civil defense authority.

“The response will come soon and will be strong,” Gantz, a former defense minister, said in statements carried by the Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

He held the Lebanese government responsible “for allowing the rocket fire from its territory.”

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 28,500 people following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio