An Israeli soldier was killed and 6 others have been wounded in a Hezbollah explosive drone strike in southern Lebanon on Sunday, as cross-border violence continued all through the day, regardless of a fragile ceasefire that was prolonged final week.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of repeatedly violating the shaky truce, and vowed to behave forcefully in response, whereas the Iran-backed group rejected the accusation and blamed Israel for ceasefire violations.
Following the lethal assault, the IDF stated it carried out a wave of airstrikes and artillery shelling in southern Lebanon, focusing on Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure north of the Israeli-declared safety zone.
Underneath the phrases of the truce, which got here into power on April 17 and was prolonged on Thursday by US President Donald Trump for 3 weeks, Israel reserves the fitting to reply to “deliberate, imminent or ongoing assaults.”
The IDF stated Sunday night that Sgt. Idan Fooks, 19, of the seventh Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion, from Petah Tikva, was killed, an officer and three troops have been significantly wounded, one soldier was reasonably damage and one other soldier was flippantly damage within the assault that occurred that morning.
Fooks is the third soldier to be killed in southern Lebanon throughout the ceasefire, and the primary in a direct Hezbollah assault. The opposite two troops have been killed by bombs beforehand planted by the fear group, with the navy assessing that they weren’t remotely detonated.
A tank of the 77th Battalion acquired caught within the southern Lebanon city of Taybeh, throughout the Israeli-declared safety zone. Whereas the troops have been working to restore the tank, a Hezbollah explosive-laden drone struck subsequent to them, killing Fooks and wounding the opposite troopers.
An Israeli Air Drive helicopter was then dispatched to take the wounded troops to a hospital. Throughout efforts to evacuate the wounded troops, Hezbollah launched two extra explosive-laden drones on the forces.
One of many drones was intercepted by the troopers, whereas the second struck close to the troops and the helicopter, with out inflicting any further accidents or injury, in keeping with an IDF probe of the incident.
Hezbollah took duty for the assault, saying it was a response to alleged Israeli violations of the truce.
The phobia group has made use of small first-person view (FPV) drones in its assaults on Israeli troops. A number of the drones are guided utilizing a spool of fiber-optic cable, which mitigates efforts to electronically jam their sign.
Talking firstly of the weekly cupboard assembly on Sunday, Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of threatening the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, pledging to “vigorously” goal the Iran-backed terror group.
“It should be understood that Hezbollah’s violations are, in follow, dismantling the ceasefire,” he stated.
“We’re performing vigorously in keeping with the principles we agreed upon with the USA and, by the way, additionally with Lebanon,” Netanyahu added. “This implies freedom of motion not solely to reply to assaults, which is clear, but additionally to thwart quick threats and likewise neutralize rising threats.”
He stated that in keeping with the IDF, over the previous two weeks of the ceasefire, “we’ve eradicated 46 terrorists [in southern Lebanon], and we’ll act with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm. We aren’t ready to simply accept this lawlessness. We’ll do no matter is important to revive safety to the North.”
In a press release, Hezbollah rejected Netanyahu’s accusation that it was jeopardizing the ceasefire, and stated it might maintain responding to what it known as Israel’s violations and occupation of southern Lebanon.
The Iran-backed terror group stated its assaults on Israeli targets in south Lebanon and northern Israel are “a legit response to the enemy’s persistent violations of the ceasefire for the reason that first day of the announcement of the non permanent truce.”
“Hezbollah affirms clearly and firmly that the enemy’s continued ceasefire violations… and above all its continued occupation of Lebanese territory and violations of its sovereignty can be met with a response and a resistance that’s… able to defend its land and other people,” the assertion stated.
Hezbollah continued to fireside drones at each northern Israel and IDF troops stationed in southern Lebanon all through Sunday.
The IDF stated that three Hezbollah drones launched from Lebanon Sunday afternoon, which triggered sirens within the Western Galilee, have been shot down by the Israeli Air Drive earlier than crossing the border. The navy stated it additionally intercepted two Hezbollah drones that individually focused troops in southern Lebanon and likewise didn’t cross into Israeli territory.
On Sunday afternoon, the IDF issued an evacuation warning for a number of Lebanese cities north of Israel’s southern Lebanon safety zone, forward of its airstrikes on Hezbollah.
“In mild of the Hezbollah terror group’s violation of the ceasefire settlement, the IDF is compelled to behave in opposition to it with power,” stated military spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.
In a wave of airstrikes and artillery shelling earlier immediately, the IDF says it hit Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in southern Lebanon, north of the Israeli-held safety zone.
The IDF says the targets included rocket-launching squads that have been planning assaults on troops… pic.twitter.com/jKEW1Q8OtH
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) April 26, 2026
Civilians in Mayfadoun, Shoukine, Yohmar, Arnoun, Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Kfar Tebnit have been instructed to evacuate their houses and transfer at the very least a kilometer away from an space designated on a map revealed by the IDF.
Shortly afterwards, Israeli warplanes “launched a strike” in Kfar Tebnit, inflicting casualties, Lebanon’s Nationwide Information Company stated.
An Israeli strike on Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, one other of the flagged villages, destroyed a mosque and one other non secular constructing, the information company stated. It had earlier stated an Israeli “drone hit a bike” there.
Shelling was additionally reported in a number of border villages, it stated.
Elsewhere, AFP correspondents noticed clouds of gray smoke rise over Nabatieh al-Fawqa and several other different places after the Israeli strikes.
The IDF stated that the strikes, which got here after the drone assault that killed Fooks, focused rocket-launching squads that have been planning assaults on troops and Israel, a primed rocket launcher, a weapons depot and different buildings utilized by the fear group.
The navy stated it additionally struck Hezbollah operatives in a constructing identified for use by the fear group, and one other operative on a bike.
The US-mediated ceasefire, which began on April 16, was prolonged for an extra three weeks, Trump introduced final week throughout talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon, regardless of continued cross-border violence.
Since Hezbollah started firing at Israel once more on March 2, two Israeli civilians have been killed within the assaults and 16 IDF troopers have died preventing in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s well being ministry says that greater than 2,500 individuals have been killed in Israeli strikes throughout the identical interval, a determine that doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The IDF has stated that it has killed some 1,700 Hezbollah operatives since hostilities escalated.
