Tel Aviv, Israel: At least 11 children and teenagers were killed in a rocket attack on a football field on Saturday, Israeli officials said, in the deadliest attack on an Israeli target on the country's northern border since fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. . This has raised fears of a wider regional war.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, but Hezbollah was quick to deny any role. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price for this attack, which has not yet been paid.”
The Israeli army's chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari called it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which escalated the war in Gaza. He said that 20 others were injured.
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel's Channel 12. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12.
Hezbollah's chief spokesman, Mohammad Afif, told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies attacking Majdal Shams.” It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny the attack.
The strike at the soccer field, just before sunset, followed cross-border violence earlier on Saturday, when Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed, without specifying where. Israel's military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot in the border village of Kfar Qila and that militants were inside at the time.
Hezbollah said its fighters carried out 10 separate attacks using rockets and explosive drones against Israeli military posts, the last of which was a Katyusha rocket targeting the Haramoun Brigade's army command in Maleh Golani. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said a short-range rocket had hit the same army post. The attacks were said to be in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu, who is on a visit to the United States, said his office would shorten his trip to a few hours, without specifying when he would return. He said that he will call a meeting of the Security Council of Ministers after his arrival.
Far-right members of Netanyahu's government called for a tougher response against Hezbollah. But after nearly 10 months of fighting in Gaza, an all-out war with a militant group that has far superior firepower to Hamas will be an effort for Israel's military.
Footage broadcast on Israeli Channel 12 showed a large explosion in a valley in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and captured in 1981. Some Druze have Israeli citizenship. Many still sympathize with Syria and reject Israeli involvement, but their relationship with Israeli society has grown over the years.
Video shows paramedics running stretchers from the football field to waiting ambulances.
He told Channel 12 that the children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field. He said he heard sirens seconds before the rocket hit but did not have time to take shelter.
Zihan Safadi, principal of a primary school, told Channel 12 that five of the dead were students: “The situation here is very difficult. Parents are crying, people are screaming outside. No one can fathom what happened. “
Israel's military said its analysis showed the rocket was fired from an area north of the village of Cheba in southern Lebanon.
The White House's National Security Council said in a statement that the U.S. “will continue to support efforts to end these horrific attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority. Our support for Israel's security is unwavering against all Iran-backed terrorist groups, including the iron-clad and Lebanese Hezbollah.”
Lebanon's government, in a statement that did not mention Majdal Sham, called for an “immediate end to hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks on civilians.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Oct. 8 after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel. In recent weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border has intensified, with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone strikes by Hezbollah striking deep and far from the border.
As tensions escalated, Israel's military said Majdal Shams had not ordered the evacuation of border communities, without saying why. The city does not sit directly on the border with Lebanon.
Officials from countries including the United States and France have visited Lebanon to try to ease tensions, but progress has not been made. Hezbollah has refused to cease fire as long as Israel's offensive on Gaza continues. Israel and Hezbollah fought a decisive war in 2006.
Saturday's violence comes as Israel and Hamas weigh a ceasefire proposal that would end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free about 110 hostages held there. A Hamas attack on October 7 killed around 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. More than 39,000 people have died in Israel's attacks, according to local health officials.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also about 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 44 have been killed, including at least 21 soldiers.
