NAHARIYA, Israel - One Israeli civilian was killed and at least 21 wounded when Hizbollah rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into homes and apartment buildings in the northern city of Nahariya on Thursday, medics said.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said a 40-year-old woman was killed when one rocket hit her house in Nahariya, as tensions escalated with Lebanon a day after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two soldiers and killed eight in cross-border raids.
 

An Israeli army 155 mm mobile artillery piece fires into southern Lebanon from a position on the frontier in Zaura July 13, 2006. Israel struck Beirut airport and Hizbollah's television station on Thursday and killed 22 civilians in raids on south Lebanon, intensifying its reprisals after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight. [Reuters]

The army said it was unclear how many Katyusha rockets hit the coastal city, five km (three miles) south of the border, but added that rockets and mortar bombs had struck at least seven other communities along northern Israel.

Hizbollah said it had fired 60 rockets at Nahariya.

"I had made a cup of coffee ... and was heading toward the staircase when I heard three massive booms," said Maya Nir, a resident in one building that was hit.

"My husband hit the floor with our child. Then we just fled," she told Israeli television.

Israeli aircraft earlier attacked Beirut airport and killed 22 civilians in strikes on south Lebanon, dramatically widening its reprisals over Hizbollah's attacks on Wednesday.

An Israeli policeman stands in a building which was hit by a rocket in the northern town of Nahariya near the Israeli-Lebanese border July 13, 2006. Israel struck Beirut airport and Hizbollah's television station on Thursday and killed 22 civilians in raids on south Lebanon, intensifying its reprisals after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight. [Reuters]

One Hizbollah rocket landed in the Israeli town of Zarit, wounding one civilian. Another projectile damaged an Israeli airforce base near Mount Meron, officials said.
Israel vowed on Wednesday a severe response to Hizbollah's cross-border attack. The violence is the worst between Israel and Lebanon since 1996 when Israeli troops still occupied part of the south.

The Israeli army pulled out of the area in 2000, 22 years after it moved in to fight Palestinian guerrillas who controlled a border strip.