Kerala man killed, 2 Indians hurt in anti-tank missile attack in Israel

The missile, fired from Lebanon, struck an orchard near Israel's northern Margaliot

CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: An Indian national was killed and two others injured in an anti-tank missile attack in Israel's northern border community of Margaliot. The deceased has been identified as Patnibin Maxwell from Kollam in Kerala.

The missile, fired allegedly by Hezbollah from Lebanon, landed in the orchard near the northern border. Three others were injured, according to PTI. They too hail from Kerala.

However, a report by The Times of Israel mentioned that a "foreign national was killed" and seven other injured but failed to identify the victim.

According to Zaki Heller, spokesperson for rescue services Magen David Adom (MDA), the missile hit a plantation in Margaliot, a moshav (collective agricultural community), in the Galilee region in the north of Israel around 11 am on Monday. Heller told PTI that the remains of Maxwell were identified in Ziv Hospital.

Sources identified the injured men as Bush Joseph George and Paul Melvin. "George was taken to the Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva after suffering injuries on face and body. He underwent an operation, is recovering well, and has been kept under observation. He could speak with his family in India," an official source told PTI.

Melvin suffered minor injuries and is hospitalized at Ziv Hospital in the northern Israeli city of Safed. He is from the Idukki district of Kerala.

The MDA added that seven foreign workers were injured in the attack, two of them seriously, and were taken to Beilinson, Rambam, and Ziv hospitals in their ambulances and Israeli Air Force helicopters.

Hezbollah faction in Lebanon has been launching rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel daily since October 8 in support of Hamas amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. The IDF responded to Monday's attack by shelling the launch site with artillery.

The IDF also said it struck a Hezbollah compound where members of the group were gathered in the southern Lebanon town of Chihine, and another site belonging to Hezbollah in Ayta ash-Shab.