ISRAEL bombed the village of Mayfadoun in southern Lebanon today, killing five people it said were Hezbollah fighters as cross-border conflict escalated.

Hezbollah fired what it termed a “swarm of drones” against an Israeli army base 12 miles inside Israel, wounding five Israelis, one critically.

Fears Israel may extend its current invasion of Gaza to a new front in Lebanon have intensified since it bombed the Lebanese capital Beirut last week, killing senior Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr. The same day it assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and both Iran and Hezbollah have vowed revenge.

Israeli authorities stepped up deadly raids across the occupied West Bank, killing at least eight people in Jenin and Aqqaba, including a 14-year-old boy, and continued to pound Gaza, killing at least 40 people in the last 24 hours.

But within the country protests flared too, with hundreds of Orthodox Jews clashing with police outside an army recruiting station in Tel Hashomer, protesting against a June Supreme Court ruling that an exemption for draft-age Haredi Jews from military conscription must be ended.

Extremist zionists also protested outside the military court at Beit Lid, where soldiers are being investigated for the sexual assault of a Palestinian prisoner. The crowd chanted: “This is the state of the Jews and it precedes democracy.”

The case has split the cabinet, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calling the detained soldiers “our best heroes,” while Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has accused him of delaying the police response to armed protesters attempting to storm the army base.