The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah fired a barrage of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel last night, targeting the town of Beit Hillel. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said that this attack was the most recent in a string of assaults carried out in solidarity with the Palestinian people. According to Hezbollah, the rocket strike on Beit Hillel was a direct response to Israeli attacks on the Lebanese towns of Kfar Kela and Deir Siriane.

Israel on the other hand traded fire with Hezbollah yesterday and carried out a deadly raid in the occupied West Bank, and struck a school compound in Gaza City. The Hamas-ruled territory’s civil defence agency said the attack killed at least 17 people.

The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this week, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s military chief in Beirut, has escalated tension in the Middle East, sparking fears of a regional war.

Israel’s ally, the United States, said it would move warships and fighter jets to the region, while Western governments called on their citizens to leave Lebanon where the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement is based.