Four soldiers were killed and over 60 injured in a Hezbollah drone strike

Four soldiers were killed and more than 60 other people injured in a drone attack on a military base in northern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF added that seven soldiers were seriously injured in the attack on a base “adjacent to Binyamina” – a town about 20 miles (33 km) south of Haifa.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said targeted an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade training camp in the area between Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The armed group’s media office said the attack was in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut on Thursday.

The group said it attacked the camp in northern Israel with a “swarm of drones.”

Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) said 61 people were injured in the attack – including three critically. It said 37 of them were taken to eight regional hospitals by ambulance or helicopter.

In a statement before the IDF confirmed the deaths, MDA said that in addition to the three seriously injured, 18 of the victims were in moderate condition, 31 had suffered minor injuries and nine people were suffering from “anxiety.”

The reason for the discrepancy in the number of serious injuries between the MDA and IDF is not clear.

Israeli censorship rules had initially prevented media outlets from reporting exactly where or what was attacked before the IDF confirmed it was the Binyamina base.

Some Israeli media have reported that the base was hit by a low-flying drone launched from Lebanon – a relatively simple weapon that does not appear to have triggered an early warning alarm.

Throughout the evening, television broadcasts, social media posts and online reports showed footage of emergency vehicles, including helicopters, taking injured people to hospitals in northern Israel.

Many of the wounded were evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in nearby Hadera, while others were evacuated to hospitals in Tel Hashomer, Haifa, Afula and Netanya.

Details are not yet known, but many of the injured were apparently in a community cafeteria at the time and were taken completely by surprise. Pictures are circulating on social media that appear to show an empty canteen with a hole in the roof.