Terrifying moment Hezbollah rocket explodes into Israeli motorway

This is the terrifying moment motorists driving along an Israeli motorway had to dive for cover after a Hezbollah missile exploded in the middle of the road. The militant group has been launching rockets into Israel from Lebanon but not all of them are being intercepted by the Iron Dome. It comes amid a huge escalation of violence, a day after a massive Israeli bombardment killed nearly 500 people in southern Lebanon, including more than 90 women and children.

A video posted on X, which was filmed from the inside of a vehicle driving along the motorway near the town of Tamra on Tuesday morning, shows several cars pulling over on the side of the road as rockets can be heard whizzing overhead. Suddenly a loud bang can be heard as a rocket slams into the middle of the road, sending a huge cloud of smoke billowing out.

In the car ahead, a terrified man quickly jumps out of his vehicle and lies face down on the tarmac, taking cover, as distant explosions ring out. Yesterday, Israel’s Defence Forces gave Lebanese civilians a matter of hours to pack up and leave their homes before commencing a punishing bombing campaign of what they claimed were command-and-control centres, ammo dumps and other locations used by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Displaced families slept in shelters hastily set up in schools in Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon. The Israeli military said Tuesday morning that 55 rockets from Lebanon struck northern Israel, setting fires and damaging buildings.

Military officials said they carried out dozens of airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, including on a cell that fired rockets overnight, and that tanks and artillery struck targets near the border. Galilee Medical Center, a northern Israel hospital, said that two patients arrived with minor head injuries from a rocket falling near their car. Several others were being treated for light wounds from running to shelters and traffic accidents when alarms sounded.

The renewed exchange came after Monday’s historic barrages racked up the highest death toll in any single day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah fought a bruising monthlong war in 2006. The Israeli military says it has no immediate plans for a ground invasion but is prepared for one, after moving thousands of troops who had been serving in Gaza to the northern border.

It says Hezbollah has launched some 9,000 rockets and drones into Israel since last October, including 250 on Monday alone. The military said Israeli warplanes struck 1,600 Hezbollah targets Monday, destroying cruise missiles, long- and short-range rockets and attack drones, including weapons concealed in private homes.

Lebanese officials have said many of the victims were civilians, including more than 90 women and children killed. Israel estimates Hezbollah has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including guided missiles and long-range projectiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

Monday’s escalation came after a particularly heavy exchange of fire Sunday. Hezbollah launched around 150 rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for strikes that killed a top commander and dozens of fighters.

Last week, thousands of communications devices, including pagers and walkie-talkies used mainly by Hezbollah members, exploded in different parts of Lebanon, killing 39 people and wounding nearly 3,000, many of them civilians. Lebanon blamed Israel, but Israel did not confirm or deny responsibility. It comes as world leaders flock to New York for the UN General Assembly. It is hoped diplomacy and deal-making on the sidelines of the assembly can hasten an end to the savage conflict raging in the Middle East.

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