At least eight Israelis died as Katyusha rockets launched by Hizbullah hit three cities along Israel's northern coast, including Haifa Sunday morning. Two salvos of several rockets hit a central residential and business district of Haifa.
Rockets also landed in the city of Acre and in Nahariya. A rocket also landed in the town of Kiryat Haim located north of Haifa, Israel's Channel 2 TV reported. Some 20 people were also wounded.
Most of the fatalities were in an Israel Railways depot located near an Israel Electric Corporation installation on Haifa Bay, according to the Magen David Adom director general.
"The injuries at the depot are the most severe," said Haifa mayor, Yona Yahav. "It has been a sad morning for us - the type of morning we are not accustomed to since the [1991] Gulf War."
Hizbullah's television station, Al-Manar, reported that rockets hit the oil refineries in Haifa Bay. "After the enemy continued all night their destructive shelling of [Beirut's] outhern suburb and other areas... the resistance movement fired dozens of rockets on Haifa," the TV station said, reading a statement from the Shiite group.
"The Islamic resistance at 9:45 [local time] rained again on Haifa with a new salvo of Raad-2 and Raad-3 rockets," it said.
Hizbullah also warned that if the Israel Air Force continues its strikes on Beirut strikes, it would target petrochemical plants in Haifa.
