ISRAEL – Two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks have killed seven people in northern Israel, authorities say – the deadliest such strikes in months. An Israeli farmer and four foreign agricultural workers were killed when rockets landed near Metula, a town on the border with Lebanon, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said. Later, a woman in her 60s and a man around 30 were killed near Kibbutz Afek, on the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa, according to paramedics. Hezbollah said it had fired barrages of rockets towards the Krayot area north of Haifa and at Israeli forces south of the Lebanese town of Khiam, which is across the border from Metula. The Israeli military identified two projectiles crossing from Lebanon and falling in an open area near Metula on Thursday morning.

In the afternoon, it said about 55 projectiles were fired towards the Central Galilee, Upper Galilee and Western Galilee regions. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and others fell in open areas, it added. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the farmer and the foreign workers were killed in an agricultural area near Metula. It cited a member of the local emergency response team as saying the Israeli military had permitted the farmer and workers to enter the area despite it being inside a closed military zone. The military established the zone at the end of September, just before it launched a ground invasion of Lebanon with the aim of destroying Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.

The deadly rocket attacks came as two US special envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss a possible ceasefire deal to end the war with Hezbollah. (BBC)

Photo: Smoke was seen rising from the Israeli town of Metula following a Hezbollah rocket attack. (AFP)…[+]