Ten Israeli soldiers were killed and at least nine others were wounded when a Hezbollah rocket slammed into a group of reservists in northern Israel on Sunday, medics and Israeli media said.
The attack on Kfar Giladi village was the deadliest Hezbollah rocket strike since war with Israel erupted on July 12 after the guerrillas seized two soldiers in a cross-border raid.
The army confirmed reserve soldiers called up for duty in the Lebanon offensive were killed, but did not say how many.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said 10 were killed and another nine wounded, four critically.
A reporter for Army Radio said people in the village stood around in shock and wept as they looked at the bodies, some covered in blankets. The attack took place near the village graveyard.
Many trees were burning in the aftermath of the rocket attack, sending plumes of smoke into the air.
Other rockets landed around the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona, officials said.
The latest casualties bring to 43 the number of people killed in northern Israel in rocket strikes.
On July 16, a Hezbollah rocket killed 8 workers at a railway station in the northern city of Haifa. — Reuters