Drone attack kills four Israeli soldiers and injures more than 60 others

2024-10-14 07:33:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Four soldiers have been killed and more than 60 others injured in a drone attack targeting a military base in northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The IDF added that seven soldiers were seriously wounded in the attack on a base "in the vicinity of Binyamina", a town about 20 miles (33 km) south of Haifa.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said targeted an IDF Golani Brigade training camp in the area, which is located between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The armed group's media office said the attack was in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut on Thursday.

The group said it had targeted the camp in northern Israel using a "swarm of drones".

Israel's ambulance service, Magen David Adom (MDA), said 61 people were injured in the attack, revealing that three are in critical condition. He added that 37 of them had been taken to eight regional hospitals, either by ambulance or helicopter.

In a statement before the IDF confirmed the deaths, the MDA said that in addition to three critically wounded, 18 of the victims were in moderate condition, 31 suffered minor injuries and nine people were "suffering from anxiety."

The reason for the discrepancy in the number of critical injuries between the MDA and the IDF is not clear.

Israeli censorship rules had initially prevented the media from reporting exactly where or what was targeted, before the IDF confirmed it was the Binyamina base.

Some Israeli media have reported that the base was hit by a low-level drone launched from Lebanon - a relatively unsophisticated weapon that appears not to have triggered early warning alarms.

Throughout the evening, television news reports, social media posts and online reports showed footage of emergency vehicles, including helicopters, taking victims to hospitals across northern Israel.

Many of the injured were evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in nearby Hadera, while others were taken to hospitals in Tel Hashomer, Haifa, Afula and Netanya.

Details are still scarce, but many of the injured appear to have been in a communal canteen at the time and were caught completely by surprise. Images circulating on social media appear to show an empty hall with a hole in the roof./ CNA