Israeli port workers in Haifa received 'Hezbollah' messages about incoming strike

Workers at the port of Haifa in northern Israel said they had received text messages warning them to evacuate or risk being targeted, Israeli media reported on Monday.

The text messages told workers that the port’s database had been hacked and the harbour would be struck in a rocket attack, according to Israeli newspaper Maariv.

"We know you are one of the workers at the port; it will be one of the targets of our missiles," the text message reportedly read. "We will give you a short time to leave."

But operations continued as normal at the port, which is Israel's largest and owned by a consortium led by India's Adani Group.

Some media reports claimed Hezbollah was behind the messages, but The New Arab could not verify this.

Haifa, northern Israel’s commercial hub and the country’s third largest city, has been targeted by rocket fire from Hezbollah across the border in Lebanon in the more than year-long cross-border fighting.

But the Iran-backed militant group has intensified its strikes on Haifa and its suburbs in recent weeks as Israel’s ferocious offensive in Lebanon wreaks havoc on the country and kills hundreds of civilians.

The latest Israeli massacre in Lebanon was the Monday night attack on a densely populated neighbourhood south of Beirut very close to a hospital.

The strike has killed at least 18 people, including four children, and wounded 60 others.

Other factions backed by Iran such as Shia Iraqi militias have also claimed responsibility for drone attacks on the Haifa port.