IDF says 'suspicious aerial targets' crossed from Lebanon before Israeli forces knocked them down

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The Israeli Defense Forces said Sunday that it located "numerous suspicious aerial targets" crossing from Lebanon, prompting Israel to launch multiple interceptors that knocked the targets to the ground.

According to a press release from the IDF, a fall was identified adjacent to the kibbutz Ayelet HaShahar. This came after sirens were heard in the upper Galilee.

The incident moderately injured an IDF officer and soldier, who were both transported to a hospital for treatment. The families of the injured have been notified, the IDF said.

Israel Fire Services are working to extinguish a fire that was ignited in the area during the attack.

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Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari speaks to the press from The Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)

The IDF said that, after the sirens that sounded in the areas of Kiryat Shmona and Kfar Giladi, it was determined to be false identification.

IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said in a press briefing that troops are in several areas, including the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Judea and Samaria, to thwart threats against Israel.

In Gaza, the IDF is focusing on locating and neutralizing underground infrastructure in the Rafah area and the Philadelphi Corridor, Hagari said, adding that dozens of tunnels have thus far been located and are being investigated, neutralized and destroyed by troops.

Hagari said not all of these tunnels are active, as some are old and the IDF has already dealt with them, but that all the tunnels are being neutralized.

On Sunday morning, two Israeli citizens were killed and two others were wounded in a stabbing attack in the city of Holon, according to Hagari. The terrorist was neutralized at the scene by a police officer.

The IDF said dozens of tunnels have thus far been located and are being investigated, neutralized and destroyed by troops. (Israel Defense Forces )

On Saturday, the IDF and the Israeli Securities Authority prepared a response to an alert about a terrorist cell in the Tulkarm area in the West Bank, Hagari said. The cell was on its way to carry out a terror attack on an axis or in a community, but an aircraft eliminated the cell of five terrorists who were inside a vehicle, according to Hagari.

Later that day, a counter-terrorism operation was conducted by the IDF and ISA in Tulkarm, where an aircraft killed four terrorists who had opened fire at Israeli forces. Troops also assisted from the ground, Hagari said.

Following the operation, troops located large numbers of firearms, ammunition and military vests. Hagari said a lot of these weapons come to Judea and Samaria from Iran.

"For years, Iran has been arming and financing terrorist organizations across the Middle East, including smuggling explosives into Israeli territory for terror attacks against civilians," Hagari said. "The IDF and ISA have already thwarted numerous attacks in which Claymore type explosives were smuggled into the country’s territory. We are determined to continue acting against Iranian terrorism wherever it may be."

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Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari poses next to an Iranian ballistic missile which fell in Israel, during a media tour at the Julis military base near the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi on April 16, 2024. (Getty Images)

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This comes after Hamas terrorists' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and roughly 250 others were abducted. Many of the hostages are still being held by Hamas.

"This evening, we also remember the 115 hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," Hagari said. "We are committed to bringing them all home as soon as possible — those who are alive to their families, and those who are no longer alive to burial in Israel. This is our goal, and we will continue to act with great determination to achieve it."

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 90,000 wounded in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, although the count does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.