JERUSALEM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the explosion of wireless communication devices, or pagers, in Lebanon during security consultations with senior ministers and intelligence chiefs earlier this week, the Israeli news website Walla reported on Tuesday.

The website, citing unnamed senior American officials, reported that Israel was behind the explosions in Lebanon, despite the Israeli Prime Minister's Office distancing itself from a now-deleted social media post by Netanyahu's advisor, Topaz Luk, which hinted at Israeli responsibility for the attacks.

At least nine people, including a child, were killed in a mass explosion of the pager devices in different areas across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firas Al-Abiad.

He added that some 2,750 other people were also injured, including 200 in critical condition.

Pagers, often used by civilians and healthcare workers for communication, are small, battery-powered wireless devices that receive text messages, audio, and visual signals.

According to Walla, the operation “neutralized a significant part of Hezbollah's military command and control system.”

Israeli officials said that “they are aware that there is now a high probability of a significant escalation on the northern border,” and emphasized that the Israeli army is on “high alert for a large-scale response by Hezbollah.”

An unnamed Israeli source told the website that the operation to blow up the pagers was approved at the beginning of the week as part of a series of security consultations held by Netanyahu with senior ministers and heads of the defense establishment and the intelligence community.

The operation came just a day after US envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel and cautioned Netanyahu against triggering a major escalation in Lebanon.

Another Israeli official said that “on Tuesday, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant spent several hours in Kirya (Israeli army’s command center) in Tel Aviv to discuss the situation in Lebanon,” according to the website.

Another unnamed source told the website that Israel executed the operation “in order to open a new phase in the campaign against Hezbollah on the one hand, while trying to keep it below the threshold of all-out war.”

“The operation was aimed at undermining Hezbollah's security and creating in the organization's ranks the feeling that it was completely penetrated by the Israeli intelligence services,” the source said.

It noted that “the Israeli intelligence services assessed before the operation that Hezbollah might respond with a significant counterattack against Israel.”

The mass explosion of pagers came amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel against the backdrop of a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,200 people, mostly women and children, following a Hamas attack Oct. 7 last year.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio