According to Israeli police, two people were killed in attack on the Golan Heights

Jerusalem
CNN
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The head of the Golan Regional Council called on the Israeli government to attack Hezbollah “with force” and expand its offensive to the Lebanese side of the border after a Hezbollah rocket attack killed two people on Tuesday.

According to Israeli police, a woman and a man were “killed instantly” in the Golan Heights when a projectile hit their vehicle directly.

“Several falling projectiles have been identified in the area,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added in a statement after sirens sounded in the Golan Heights.

“Tonight, what we have been warning about and talking about for three months has happened: we have lost the lives of residents of the Golan community,” Ori Kallner, chairman of the Golan Regional Council, said in a statement. “We call on the Israeli government and the Israeli forces on this difficult evening to protect the residents of the Golan Heights, end the policy of restraint, attack our enemies with force and restore security to the residents of the north and the Golan Heights.”

“We will not allow the Golan to become Israel’s security zone. The offensive must be moved to the other side of the border, into enemy territory,” Kallner added.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a post in the country’s Defense Ministry, also called on the Israeli military to “attack Hezbollah and Lebanon mercilessly.”

The Golan Heights are under the control of the Israeli government and are considered occupied territory by the international community.

Previously, paramedics from Magen David Adom had reported a “difficult” situation at the scene of the accident.

“We saw a vehicle that had suffered a direct hit and there was an unconscious man and a woman in front who were seriously injured. Additional sirens were activated while medical treatment was being provided,” paramedics said in a statement.

“We ran to protect ourselves and attended to the incident while the sirens went off. Military personnel assisted on the scene.”

Firefighters said they were called to at least eight fires after the missiles hit.

In a statement, Hezbollah said it fired dozens of Katyusha rockets into the Golan Heights “in response” to an alleged Israeli attack in Syria that targeted a senior Hezbollah figure on Tuesday.

Hezbollah member Yasser Nemr Qranbish was killed in a targeted attack in an area west of the capital Damascus on the old road between Damascus and Beirut, the group added, without giving further details.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the strike.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday that the Israeli Air Force had “attacked Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure in the Qabrikha area and fired missiles from there towards the Golan Heights.”

“In addition, the IAF attacked Hezbollah military structures in the Kfarkela area of ​​southern Lebanon,” the IDF statement added.

Since the Gaza war began, there have been almost daily cross-border shellings between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. But the intensity of the shelling is gradually increasing, raising fears that a full-scale conflict could develop.

Hezbollah is one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge missile arsenal.

The group has stated that its current fight with Israel is in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Smotrich expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and said the Israeli military and government should “restore security” to the residents of the Golan Heights.

“It is time for the leadership of the Israel Defense Forces and the State of Israel to show courage and bravery and – as I have long called for – to mercilessly attack Hezbollah and Lebanon and restore security to the residents of the north,” Smotrich, who also holds a post in the Defense Ministry, said in a statement on Tuesday evening.

Former member of the Israeli war cabinet, Benny Gantz, also commented on the attack, saying it was “another difficult and sad evening.”

“The operational effort should have been moved to the north in March, as we demanded. Prime Minister Netanyahu hesitated and refused to add the return of northern residents to their homes by September 1 to the war goals – and we are paying the price. And that price is high,” said Gantz, who resigned from Netanyahu’s government in June.

This is a developing story and will be updated.