Jerusalem, Aug 26 (IANS): An Israeli Navy soldier was killed during cross-border airstrikes between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
The IDF identified the soldier as David Moshe Ben Shitrit, 21, from Geva Binyamin in the occupied West Bank, adding on Sunday that he was killed "during combat in northern Israel".
According to Israel's state-owned Kan TV, he was injured by an Israeli interceptor missile that struck the Dvora patrol boat where he was stationed.
The soldier then succumbed to his injuries. This occurred as Israel's aerial defence systems attempted to intercept a Hezbollah attack involving about 320 rockets, Xinhua news agency reported.
The IDF reported that nearly 100 Israeli warplanes targeted dozens of sites in southern Lebanon, hitting hundreds of rocket launchers aimed at Israel.
The operation was described as a "preemptive attack" in response to Hezbollah's rocket and drone assault following the assassination of a senior leader in July. The IDF claimed its defence systems intercepted most of the incoming rockets and drones.
Lebanese sources reported four militants killed and six others wounded in southern Lebanon due to Israeli raids.
Israeli warplanes launched more than 40 airstrikes on southern Lebanon early Sunday, the most severe attack since cross-border attacks with Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023. The Israeli army claimed that the strikes aimed to prevent an impending Hezbollah attack.
The Lebanese group, for its part, said it launched hundreds of missiles and drones deep into Israel in the "first phase" of its response to last month's assassination of its commander Fouad Shukr in Beirut.
Since October 8, 2023, Hezbollah has been engaged in daily exchanges of fire with the Israeli army across the Blue Line, resulting in hundreds of casualties, mostly on the Lebanese side.
The escalation comes against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 40,400 Palestinians since the October 7, 2023, Hamas incursion. The military campaign has reduced much of the territory to rubble and left most of the people homeless, hungry and prone to disease.