Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will not allow any fire on any of its communities in a statement on Friday, following its first strike on Beirut since a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah was implemented in November.
"Anyone who has not yet internalized the new reality in Lebanon received another example today of our determination," Netanyahu began.
"The equation has changed — what was before October 7 will not return. We will not allow any fire on our communities, not even a trickle.
"We will continue to enforce the ceasefire with strength, strike anywhere in Lebanon against any threat to the State of Israel, and ensure that all our residents in the North return to their homes safely," the prime minister concluded.
Earlier, Defense Minister Israel Katz sent a message to the Lebanese government that Lebanon must enforce the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, or Israel will continue to strike the country.
Katz responds
"I'm sending a clear message to the Lebanese government: if you don't enforce the ceasefire agreement - we will," Katz said.
"For every attempt to harm communities in the Galilee, the rooftops of buildings in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut will shake," he said. "We promised quiet for the residents of the Galilee - and that's how it will be."
Early Friday afternoon, Israel struck a building used by Hezbollah to store drones in the area of Dahiyeh in Beirut's suburbs. That same morning, sirens sounded in the northern Galilee in Kiryat Shmona, Margaliot, Tel Hai, and Misgav Am.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for the rocket fire.
Prior to the Beirut strikes, former prime minister Naftali Bennett said Israel should strike Iran in response to the rocket fire. "When Hezbollah, Iran's terror proxy, fires on Israel, Israel must respond in Tehran," Bennett wrote in a X/Twitter post.
"Only then will Iran understand: you simply don't fire on the Jewish state."