Hamas says launched 16 rockets from Lebanon at Israel

BEIRUT — Hamas fighters on Monday fired 16 rockets from Lebanon towards northern Israel, the Palestinian group's armed wing announced, saying they targeted areas south of the Israeli coastal city of Haifa.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said the strikes came "in response to the occupation's [Israel's] massacres and its aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip".

The Israeli army, meanwhile, reported about 30 projectiles had been fired at northern Israel from Lebanon, adding that it fired back at the direction they had been launched from.

Hamas, which is allied with Lebanon's Iran-backed Shiite group Hizbollah, has a number of fighters in south Lebanon and has previously claimed attacks on Israel from there.

Tensions have run high at the border between Israel and Lebanon, which remain technically at war, since the October 7 surprise attack, with Hizbollah and Israel regularly exchanging attacks.

Since October 7, at least 81 people have been killed on the Lebanese side in cross-border skirmishes, according to an AFP tally, including 59 Hizbollah fighters.

Six soldiers and two civilians have been killed on the Israeli side.