Drone launched towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house

Sirens wailed on Saturday morning in Israel, warning of incoming fire from Lebanon, with a drone launched towards Mr Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, officials said.

Neither he nor his wife were home and there were no casualties, his spokesperson said.

“The proxies of Iran who today tried to assassinate me and my wife made a bitter mistake,” Mr Netanyahu said.

Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for the drone attack but said it carried out several rocket attacks on northern and central Israel.

The barrage came as Israel is expected to respond to an attack earlier this month by Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Israel in turn carried out at least 10 airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh, a heavily populated area home to Hezbollah’s offices, Lebanese authorities said. Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, called civilian casualties in Lebanon “far too high” in the intensifying Israel-Hezbollah war and urged Israel to scale back some strikes, especially in and around Beirut.

Israel’s military said 180 projectiles were fired throughout the day from Lebanon.

A 50-year-old man was killed after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in northern Israel, and four people were injured, Israel’s medical services said.

In the northern city of Kiryat Ata, sirens blared as people ran for cover and intercepted missiles exploded in the sky. One rocket landed in the area, and Associated Press reporters saw burned cars and a damaged building.

Itzik Billet, commander for the Haifa area, said nine people were lightly injured.

The Israeli fire service said it was battling several blazes caused by missiles in the Shlomi area, less than a mile from the Lebanese border.

On Saturday, Israel’s military issued fresh evacuation warnings for two buildings in Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hriek.

Israel has issued near-daily warnings for people to leave buildings and villages across parts of Lebanon.

The fighting has displaced more than a million people, including 400,000 children.

Israel also said on Saturday that it had killed Hezbollah’s deputy commander in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. The army said Nasser Rashid supervised attacks against Israel.

In Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday hit a vehicle on a main highway north of Beirut, killing two people. It was unclear who was in the car.

Israel’s war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group — a Hamas ally backed by Iran — has intensified in recent weeks.

Hezbollah said on Friday that it planned to launch a new phase of fighting by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel.

The militant group’s long-time leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli air strike in late September and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon earlier this month.

A standoff is also ensuing between Israel and Hamas, which it is fighting in Gaza, with both signalling resistance to ending the war after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week.

On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Mr Sinwar’s death was a painful loss but vowed that Hamas would continue its fight against Israel after the killing of the mastermind of last year’s deadly October 7 attack.

He noted that Hamas carried on despite the killings of other Palestinian militant leaders before him, adding: “Hamas is alive and will stay alive.”

Last month, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile towards Ben Gurion Airport when Mr Netanyahu’s plane was landing. The missile was intercepted.