Israel’s Gantz vows ‘strong’ response to rocket fire from Lebanon

Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday vowed a “strong” response to rocket fire from southern Lebanon, Anadolu news agency reported.

An Israeli was killed and seven others were injured in a barrage of rockets targeting a military base in Safad in northern Israel on Wednesday.

The Israeli army responded with an “extensive” wave of airstrikes that have killed four people and injured nine others, according to Lebanon’s civil defence authority.

“The response will come soon and will be strong,” Gantz, a former defence minister, said in statements carried by the Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

He held the Lebanese government responsible “for allowing the rocket fire from its territory.”

Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

READ: Woman, 2 children killed in Israeli strikes on south Lebanon