People living near an Israeli army base hit by a Hezbollah drone strike described a loud explosion then multiple ambulances arriving, as fresh rocket fire and air raid sirens sent them rushing to shelters on Monday.
Four soldiers were killed Sunday night by a Hezbollah drone at the base in the Binyamina area — the deadliest strike on Israeli soil since the war between Israel and the Lebanese armed group intensified last month.
Emergency services that helped transport the wounded to hospital said more than 60 were injured.
“Last night was crazy,” Yousef, the manager of a local restaurant in the village of Kfar Kara, told AFP, declining to give his full name for safety reasons. “There was a huge boom and then suddenly ambulances started driving past, first one, then two, then three and more and more.
“There were so many police cars and paramedics,” he added.
Yousef said that at first he thought the explosion was related to organised crime, which is high in some Israeli Arab villages. But he soon realised that the boom was from the nearby army base, which sits less than a kilometre (mile) away from his restaurant.
“We’ve been open here for two years and didn’t realise that we were next to such an important base,” Yousef told AFP. “How did Hezbollah know it was here?”
“Now they know where that base is, what if next time they fire and are slightly off target?”
The village sits along one of the main thoroughfares to the base and other witnesses described seeing ambulances and private cars whisking away dozens of injured soldiers Sunday night.
According to residents interviewed by AFP, there were no sirens or advanced warning of an incoming drone.
On Kibbutz Regavim, a few kilometres from the base, residents said they did not hear the explosion but recognised that it was nearby from television images.
“The kibbutz’s security team was immediately alerted,” Eyal Nabet, a resident of the kibbutz, told AFP.
“Sadly, afterwards, we heard the ambulances and helicopters heading to and from the base.”
Nabet said the residents of the kibbutz were shaken but bomb shelters had been renovated recently and new concrete structures added in locations, giving people “the feeling they are secure and someone is watching out for us”.
The Israeli military has pledged a full investigation into the incident.
“This was a difficult event with painful results. We must investigate it, study the details, and implement lessons in a swift and professional manner,” said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant during a visit to the base that was targeted.
“We are concentrating significant efforts in developing solutions to address the threat of UAV attacks.”
Following the strike, Hezbollah threatened to continue targeting Israel with more attacks if its offensive in Lebanon is not stopped.
The Iran-backed group “promises the enemy that what it witnessed today (Sunday) in southern Haifa is nothing compared to what awaits it if it decides to continue its aggression against our noble and dear people,” it said in a statement after the attack on the base.
Hezbollah has been regularly firing rockets, drones and missiles into Israel for more than a year in support of Hamas militants in Gaza. But the salvos have begun to reach further into Israel since September 23, when the Israel-Hezbollah war escalated.
Israel’s sophisticated air defences, however, have intercepted most of the projectiles, with few casualties caused by the barrages or the subsequent falling debris.
But for those on the ground near the Binyamina base in north Israel, a feeling of helplessness is palpable.
“What can we do?” asked a proprietor of a kiosk at the entrance to the village of Kfar Kara, who did not provide her name for security reasons.
“We are afraid but there is nothing we can do about it.”