HEZBOLLAH launched more than 50 rockets from Lebanon today, hitting a number of targets in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The attack came as a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas remains elusive.

Hezbollah said the attack was in response to an Israeli strike deep into Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed one and injured 19. 

On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched more than 200 projectiles toward Israel, after Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot some 50 miles from the border in a significant escalation of daily skirmishes.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily strikes for more than 10 months against the backdrop of Israel’s invasion of Gaza.

The exchanges have killed more than 500 people in Lebanon, including more than100 civilians and non-combatants, and around 50 in Israel.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it.

The United States is the only country to recognise Israel’s annexation. Other countries consider the Golan occupied Syrian territory.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended his latest trip to the region today without being able to secure a ceasefire.

The US has so far refused to stop providing arms to the Israelis and has urged Hamas to accept an amended ceasefire proposal it claims has the support of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu has repeatedly said that his  far-right coalition government will not accept any ceasefire deal that requires it to permanently stop its war. 

Hamas is demanding that a temporary ceasefire and Israeli hostage for Palestinian prisoner swap must lead to an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. 

It calls for a return to US President Joe Biden’s May 31 ceasefire plan to which Hamas agreed on July 2 and which, the US then said, Israel also accepted.

One important disagreement is over access to the Egypt-Gaza border, and the Netzarim corridor, which bisects Gaza. 

Mr Netanyahu has reportedly rejected a US suggestion that the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority could oversee the Egypt-Gaza crossing, the only pre-war entrance to and exit from the strip for Gazans and goods.

The Israeli prime minister was accused by an unnamed official on the US team of “making maximalist statements” that are “not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line.”