Strike on Israeli Golan Heights kills 11, risks sparking wider war; Hezbollah denies role.
A missile strike on Saturday on a soccer field killed 11 children and teenagers, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since fighting began between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It has raised fears of a wider regional war.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike in the Israeli-held Golan Heights, but Hezbollah quickly denied any role. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, a price it has not paid yet.”
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the strike as the deadliest on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that sparked the Gaza war. He said 20 others were wounded.
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 12. “We are approaching the moment when we face an all-out war.”
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies attacking Majdal Shams.” It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny an attack.
The strike on the soccer field, just before sunset, followed cross-border violence earlier Saturday, when Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed without specifying where. The Israeli military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot in the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside at the time.
Hezbollah said its fighters carried out ten separate attacks using rockets and explosive drones against Israeli military positions, the latest of which targeted the Hermon Brigade command center in Ma’ale Golani with Katyusha rockets. In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it hit the same military position with a short-range Falaq missile. The attacks were in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon, he said.
Netanyahu’s office said the attack was in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu later said he would shorten his trip to the United States by several hours without saying when he would return. He said he would convene a security cabinet meeting after his arrival.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have called for a tough response against Hezbollah. But an all-out war with a militant group with far superior firepower to Hamas would be an Israeli military effort after nearly ten months of fighting in Gaza.
Footage broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 showed a large explosion in a valley in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981. Some Druze hold Israeli citizenship. Many remain sympathetic to Syria and oppose the Israeli annexation, but their ties to Israeli society have grown over the years.
The video showed paramedics rushing stretchers from the soccer field to waiting ambulances.
Resident Hael Mahmoud told Channel 12 that the children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field. He said a siren went off seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to take cover.
Jihan Safadi, an elementary school principal, told Channel 12 that five students were among the dead: “The situation here is very difficult. Parents are crying, and people are screaming outside. No one can comprehend what happened.”
The Israeli military said its analysis showed that the rocket was fired from an area north of the village of Shebaa in southern Lebanon.
The White House National Security Council said in a statement that the United States “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 strong and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including the Lebanese Hezbollah.”
U.S. intelligence officials do not doubt that Hezbollah attacked the Golan Heights, but it was not clear whether the militant group was on target or missed, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly.
In a statement that did not mention Majdal Shams, the Lebanese government urged an “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks on civilians.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants stormed southern Israel. In recent weeks, the exchange of fire has intensified along the Lebanese-Israeli border, with Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks hitting areas deeper and farther from the border.
The Israeli military said Majdal Shams was not among the border communities ordered to evacuate as tensions escalated without saying why. The town is not directly on the border with Lebanon.
Officials from countries including the United States and France have visited Lebanon to try to ease tensions but have failed to make progress. Hezbollah has refused to cease fire as long as Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues. Israel and Hezbollah fought an inconclusive war in 2006.
Saturday’s violence comes as Israel and Hamas consider a ceasefire proposal that would end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free about 110 hostages still being held there. The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people and captured 250 others. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, most of them Hezbollah members, but also about 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 44 people were killed, at least 21 of them soldiers.
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