Israel-Hamas war: in northern Israel, Hezbollah missile fire hits an Orthodox church and injures nine soldiers

In a context of daily escalation of tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army declared on Tuesday, December 26, that a civilian and nine of its soldiers had been injured by Hezbollah missile fire in the north of the country.

“Hezbollah attacked the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Mary of Iqrit, in northern Israel,” the army said in a statement, specifying that “an anti-tank missile from Lebanon directly hit the ‘church, injuring a civilian’.

“This attack constitutes not only a blatant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, but also an attack on freedom of religion,” the Israeli army added. Resolution 1701, adopted to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, stipulates that only the Lebanese army and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) can be deployed between the border and the Litani River.

The army then announced that nine of its soldiers had been injured, including one seriously, by a new shot from the Lebanese Shiite movement, support of Hamas, while they were helping the injured civilian in the church.

Hezbollah for its part claimed responsibility for several attacks on military positions in northern Israel on Tuesday, notably claiming to have targeted a barracks with “Burkan-type missiles”.

Almost daily exchanges of fire at the border

The inhabitants of Iqrit were driven from their land by the Israeli army shortly after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. The church hit Tuesday by the Hezbollah missile, according to the army, and a cemetery are the only vestiges remaining of the Palestinian village of Iqrit which the Israeli army destroyed on Christmas Eve in 1951. This was to prevent the return of its inhabitants after a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court.

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have been almost daily on the Israeli-Lebanese border. They left more than 150 dead on the Lebanese side, mostly Hezbollah fighters, and at least thirteen on the Israeli side, including nine soldiers.

Two people were injured Tuesday by Israeli fire in the Lebanese town of Touline, ten kilometers from the Lebanese-Israeli border, according to the Lebanese National Information Agency (NNA). On November 20, NNA reported that St. George Church in the village of Yaroun suffered “significant damage” after being hit by Israeli artillery fire.