Hezbollah rocket kills woman in Shfaram, wounds dozens

Hezbollah fired over 75 rockets on Monday, with one hitting Shfaram in northern Israel, killing one woman in her 50s and wounding 56 others, and shrapnel from another injuring five, one of whom is in serious condition.Magen David Adom (MDA) said that the woman had been wounded while in a safe room of a building. Paramedics later pronounced her dead on the scene.

There was no initial explanation given regarding the cause of death, being that the woman was in a safe room. Very few civilian deaths in the war so far have occurred while the victims were in safe rooms – far more took place while civilians were out in the open.

The Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa said it treated 56 people who were wounded in Shfaram, including 18 children and teenagers. Two of the wounded, a 41-year-old woman and a four-year-old boy, were in serious condition. Among the wounded being treated is also a pregnant woman.

Ten individuals were in moderate condition, suffering from injuries from broken glass, and all were transferred for further medical care, MDA said.

In 2022, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Shfaram had a population of 43,543, with a Sunni-Muslim majority and a Christian-Arab and Druze minority. Hezbollah rockets have struck Israeli-Arab and Druze towns throughout the war, including in Majdal Shams, killing 12 children in a soccer field.

The IDF said that Hezbollah fired around five rockets at Israel, following the sirens that blared in Tamra, Shfaram, and Kabul (Acre), among other locations, starting at 6:27 p.m. local time.

Intercepting several Hezbollah rockets

Police said that following the barrage, several buildings in Shfaram suffered direct hits and added that rescue personnel were in the field to help people who had been trapped in a building that sustained major damage.Several others were hurt in other incidents relating to Hezbollah’s periodic rocket fire throughout the day, though no other deaths were reported.

The IDF shot down several rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah. However, civilians are wounded on a daily basis by a small percentage of rockets that manage to penetrate Israeli air defenses.

Further, after David’s Sling intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Hezbollah at central Israel on Wednesday, shrapnel from the rocket struck a vehicle in Ramat Gan, wounding at least five people.

The Iron Dome is generally not capable of shooting down ballistic missiles due to their speed and different trajectory from cheaper Hezbollah rockets.

Alternatively, David’s Sling and the Arrow 2 and 3 missile defense systems are each capable of shooting down different kinds of ballistic missiles, with David’s Sling focused on medium-range missiles and the Arrow systems capable of shooting down longer-range missiles up in the atmosphere.

Videos circulating showed a large fire in Ramat Gan, one of the rare recent hits Hezbollah has achieved in central Israel, with some of the other hits having come from Iran on October 1 or a couple of hits from Yemen’s Houthis’ ballistic missiles or drones over the summer and the fall.

On Israel’s end, the IDF continued to strike Hezbollah in Lebanon. It also cleared out the terrorist group’s weapons from certain areas within four to five kilometers of southern Lebanon’s border.

Lebanese officials said that one alleged Israeli airstrike in Beirut – the military had not responded about this by at press time – had caused four deaths and a larger number of wounded, with media outlets reporting various, alternating numbers.

The airstrike was unusual as it occurred in a part of Beirut close to several Lebanese government buildings not affiliated with Hezbollah per se, as well as foreign diplomatic buildings.

Israel has become more aggressive and has struck riskier targets near non-Hezbollah groups in recent weeks, following an increase in Israeli deaths from Hezbollah ambushes and rocket and drone attacks.

Commentators have also interpreted Israel’s more aggressive targeting of Hezbollah as an additional tactic to pressure the Lebanese government into accepting more of Israel’s terms for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, a convoy of 109 trucks was looted on November 16 after crossing into Gaza, resulting in the loss of 98 trucks, a UNRWA aid official told Reuters on Monday.

The convoy, carrying food provided by UN agencies UNRWA and the World Food Program, was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from Kerem Shalom crossing, Louise Wateridge, a UNRWA senior emergency officer, said.

Israel has regularly accused Hamas of hampering the process of humanitarian aid, while much of the world has blamed the IDF for continued fighting in Gaza.

The military announced on Monday that over the last week, Division 162 continued to fight and kill dozens of Hamas terrorists in northern Gaza areas, such as Jabalya and Beit Lahiya.

During that same period, seven IDF soldiers were killed.

It was unclear exactly what the IDF did in Gaza, specifically as to Monday.

A misfiring or malfunctioning IDF interceptor on Monday may have crashed into Jordan after the air force shot down a drone approaching the Eilat region from Iraq.

Videos posted on social media showed the alleged interceptor hitting Aqaba, adjacent to Eilat. Footage showed the interceptor landing a few hundred meters into Jordanian territory.

The IDF had said earlier that an interceptor had malfunctioned and fallen in the Eilat region.

However, the Jordanian military confirmed several hours later that a “flying object” had crashed in the Aqaba area, the kingdom’s state-run Petra News Agency (Jordan) reported.

Although the report did not accuse Israel of involvement in the incident or give further details, both countries could be keeping the full details of the incident under wraps due to the unwanted controversy that focusing on such an error could lead to.

Jordan’s King Abdullah and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have strained relations but have tried to avoid any security disagreements throughout the war despite occasional tensions emerging on either side.