Hezbollah rocket and drone strikes damage 1,400 Israeli properties causing $265 million in damage: report

Hezbollah's cross-border rocket and drone attacks have damaged over a thousand properties in Israel since October, according to an Israeli media report on Wednesday.

Israeli financial newspaper Globes cited data from the Israel Tax Authority, which said the attacks have caused up to $1 billion shekels ($265 million) in damage, as thousands flee the north of Israel due to almost daily rocket fire from Hezbollah and other groups in southern Lebanon.

Data from the Northern Horizon Directorate in the Israeli Defense Ministry said the damage has affected 1,400 properties within nine kilometres of the Israel-Lebanon border, 52 percent of which are apartments and homes. 

The other properties affected are farms, empty buildings, public buildings, businesses, and infrastructure.

The report said the data only includes damage from direct hits and does not encompass indirect damage.

The directorate's data says that 79 percent of property damage — around 1,093 properties  — since the beginning of the war has been due to "enemy fire". It estimated around 293 properties were damaged due to Israeli army activity.

Around 1,307 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel in August, compared to 1,091 in July and 855 in June.

The cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah has raged since Israel launched its latest war on Gaza in October. The clashes have raised fears of a broader regional escalation, with Israel having killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

Residents of northern Israel have protested against the government's handling of the situation, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government of failing to protect their communities.

On Tuesday, Israeli Knesset members Dan Illouz and Zvi Sukkot penned a letter to Netanyahu urging him to scrap a 2022 gas deal agreed with Lebanon over the fighting.

"Given the daily attacks on Israel from Lebanon since October 7, there is no justification for maintaining the current agreement," the letter said.

In an interview with Maariv, Ilouz described the deal as "essentially a reward for a state controlled by Hezbollah".

Some 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes as a result of daily cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, which began on 8 October last year.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed over 70 civilians, including children, and some 300 fighters, including Hezbollah members as well as members of other groups carrying out operations against Israel from Lebanon.