4 Israeli soldiers killed in Hezbollah drone attack, one of bloodiest raids since October 2023

The incident late Sunday local time is one of the bloodiest attacks on Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war last October.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, launched by Hezbollah hit an army base adjacent to Binyamina, a town north of Tel Aviv that lies some 40 miles from the Lebanese border.

In addition to the four soldiers killed, seven soldiers suffered severe injuries, the IDF added.

According to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service, a total of 61 people were wounded in the attack.

Those injured in Binyamina were transported to eight different hospitals, according to Magen David Adom.

The news comes after Hezbollah said Sunday it had fired a swarm of attack drones on an Israeli infantry training camp in Binyamina. The Lebanon-based group added the attack was in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon Thursday that killed 22 people and injured 117, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Hezbollah noted it had targeted the Golani Brigade, an infantry unit of the IDF that has been deployed in southern Lebanon. The claim of responsibility for the attack came shortly after the group released an audio message from its slain leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah calling on its members to “defend your people, your family, your nation, your values and your dignity”.

Israeli air defence systems tend to be very reliable, but on Sunday, there were no reports of alerts in the Binyamina area at the time of the attack, raising questions of how the drone was able to penetrate so deep into the occupied territories without being spotted.

The Binyamina attack comes almost two weeks after Israel launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. The IDF has insisted the operation is “localized” and “limited” – even though the reality on the ground suggests it might be preparing for a wider invasion.

More than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 8,000 injured in Lebanon since September 16, when Israel stepped up its campaign against Hezbollah.