The Israeli military has accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of firing dozens of rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.
It said most of the 34 rockets were intercepted but that six hit Israeli territory, causing damage to buildings.
One man was lightly wounded by shrapnel, according to medics.
Hamas said it had no information about who fired the missiles. The attack was the biggest single barrage from Lebanon in 17 years.
It comes at a time of rising tensions. There has been outrage in the region at the actions of the Israeli police, who have raided the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem – Islam’s third holiest site – for the past two nights, triggering violent confrontations with Palestinians inside.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, have also fired 25 rockets at Israel over the same period, and the Israeli military has carried out airstrikes there in response.
Air raid sirens sounded in communities across northern Israel on Thursday afternoon, after rockets were launched from Lebanon while Israelis celebrated the Jewish festival of Passover.
The Israeli military did not say where the six rockets that struck Israeli territory landed. But photographs show damage to several buildings in the border town of Shlomi, including a bank, and a car in the village of Fassuta.
“We heard booms, and sirens. A rocket hit the roof of a car as it was passing my house, but the rocket didn’t explode. When I went after the car, I saw someone was injured,” one eyewitness said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service treated a man with shrapnel injuries, a woman who was injured while running to a shelter, and another woman who had stress symptoms.
Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht said they believed Hamas was behind the attack and that it was possible the militant group Islamic Jihad was also involved.
He added that they assumed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006, knew about the attack, and that they suspected there was Iranian involvement. (BBC)