A man was killed Sunday morning by Hezbollah rocket fire in the northern kibbutz of Misgav Am, as Israel’s border communities continued to absorb regular strikes from the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group.

The victim, 60-year-old avocado farmer and kibbutz spokesman Ofer Moskovitz, was the first civilian to be killed by the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group since the war with Iran broke out on February 28.

The rocket attack ignited a fire that engulfed two vehicles. The slain man’s body was pulled from one of them, according to first responders in the Magen David Adom emergency service.

Hezbollah swiftly took responsibility for the strike, saying it targeted “a gathering of Israeli enemy army soldiers” with a barrage of rockets at 8 a.m.

The Israel Defense Forces was initially investigating whether the fire was an anti-tank missile, but later determined it was rocket fire. “There is damage, and there are casualties. The incident is under investigation,” the army said in a statement.

Moskovitz was an active member of the kibbutz who managed its 400 dunams (100 acres) of avocado groves. He was eulogized by the community as “a prominent voice for us all over the years.”

במשגב עם, פגיעה ישירה ברכב, נבדק האם מפגיעת נ"ט מלבנון. במקום שני פצועים. אחד קשה. @WallaNews pic.twitter.com/HURaBXHvtA — יואב איתיאל מדווח כי (@yoavetiel) March 22, 2026

במשגב עם, פגיעה ישירה ברכב, נבדק האם מפגיעת נ"ט מלבנון. במקום שני פצועים. אחד קשה. @WallaNews pic.twitter.com/HURaBXHvtA

— יואב איתיאל מדווח כי (@yoavetiel) March 22, 2026

Speaking to The Times of Israel last week, Moskovitz said the northern community was largely staying put despite being well aware of the danger emanating from across the Lebanon border.

“It’s dangerous, and it’s stressful, but there’s nothing to do about it,” said Moskovitz. “The field is so close to Lebanon and the Hezbollah stronghold that they see us and we see them.”

According to the Ynet news outlet, he told a Haifa radio station on Friday that “I could be hit by a rocket or drone at any moment. It’s Russian roulette.”

תיעוד: הפגיעה הישירה בקיבוץ משגב עם הבוקר@rubih67 pic.twitter.com/1JaEK37N0O — כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 22, 2026

תיעוד: הפגיעה הישירה בקיבוץ משגב עם הבוקר@rubih67 pic.twitter.com/1JaEK37N0O

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 22, 2026

Moskovitz was killed as the IDF prepared to deploy more forces in southern Lebanon in order to expand the buffer zone there and push Hezbollah further from the border, part of a ground offensive that has been going on since early last week.

During the ground operations in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops killed 10 Hezbollah operatives and captured weapons in raids on several buildings used by the terror group, the army said Sunday morning.

In parallel, the IDF and Shin Bet announced that a senior Hamas moneyman — Walid Mohammad Dib — was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon last week.

Dib was responsible for transferring funds to Hamas departments in Lebanon, the West Bank and other countries, and helped to recruit operatives and direct “terror activity from Syria and Lebanon,” the IDF and Shin Bet said.

They did not elaborate on the timing or location of the strike.

Israel has also been hitting Beirut, with the army saying it targeted Hezbollah command centers over the weekend. Those strikes came after the IDF reiterated an evacuation warning for the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a stronghold for the Shiite terror group.

Around noon Sunday, the IDF announced it would again bomb Qasmiya Bridge on the Litani River in southern Lebanon, in order to stymie Hezbollah’s efforts to transport its operatives and weapons to the region.

In a statement, the IDF said it planned to strike the bridge on Lebanon’s coastal highway “due to Hezbollah’s activities and the transfer of terror operatives to southern Lebanon under the cover of the civilian population.”

Israel has conducted similar strikes in recent weeks, and Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and the prime minister instructed the army to immediately raze all bridges over the Litani River “to prevent the passage of Hezbollah terrorists and weapons southward.”

Katz also said he instructed the army to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes in the line of contact villages, to thwart threats to Israeli communities, in accordance with the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah.” He was referring to Israel’s razing of towns in the Gaza Strip during its ground offensive against Hamas.

The continued fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces took place as the Lebanese president attempted to kickstart direct negotiations with Israel in a bid to end the conflict. Israel clarified that there are no talks planned.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when the Hezbollah terror group began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 in support of its sponsor Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke with Lebanese leaders last week, expressed hope on Thursday that Israel would agree to direct negotiations with Beirut, and offered to host talks in Paris.

Lebanon’s health ministry said that as of Saturday, Israeli attacks had killed over 1,000 people since the war began and displaced more than one million people. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The IDF said Friday that it had killed over 570 Hezbollah operatives, including 220 members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since hostilities escalated amid the war with Iran.

More than 2,000 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon have also been struck in the preceding three weeks, the army said, including 120 command centers, 100 weapon depots and 130 missile launchers.

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