Son of Israeli far-right minister Smotrich wounded in attack near Lebanon shelling

The son of far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was wounded in a suspected Hezbollah mortar strike on an Israeli army position near the Lebanese border, which injured eight Israeli soldiers.

Writing on X, Smotrich revealed his son, Benya Hebron, was wounded after shrapnel from a mortar shell pierced his back and abdomen. One of the shards had pierced Hebron's liver and stopped at the wall of the largest blood vessel in the abdomen.

He was rushed to hospital with the minister expressing his wish that "he will recover and return to full strength and to the [Israeli army]".

Israeli broadcaster Kan first reported on the injury on 6 March, saying that Smotrich’s son was injured along the Lebanese northern border and was in a mild condition.

Not much is known about Hebron, other than that he is an Israeli army soldier in the Golani Brigade.

Hezbollah fighters carried out a series of attacks on Israel and its forces towards the occupied Golan Heights and the Haifa area on 6 March, seriously wounding five soldiers amid wider cross-border attacks following the US and Israel's joint war on Iran.

The Lebanese group launched strikes on Israel after a 15-month hiatus, in retaliation for the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel had been carrying out near-daily attacks on Lebanon before the Hezbollah shelling, despite a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah coming into force in November 2024.

Smotrich has strongly endorsed Israel’s latest attacks on Lebanon, which have killed at least 486 people, including dozens of children, framing his campaign as an opportunity to permanently secure Israel's northern border by seizing a broad security zone south of the Litani River.

Almost 700,000 people have been forcibly displaced from Lebanon's Shia-majority regions, including the south, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and some eastern areas in the Bekaa.