A rocket strike on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Saturday killed at least 11 children and teens, marking the deadliest attack on an Israeli target along the northern border since fighting began between Israel and Hezbollah. The incident has raised fears of a broader regional conflict.
Israel has blamed Hezbollah for the strike, but the Lebanese militant group quickly denied any involvement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, called the attack the deadliest on Israeli civilians since the Hamas assault on October 7 that triggered the war in Gaza. He reported that 20 others were wounded.
“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 Channel 12. “We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.”
Hezbollah chief spokesman Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies carrying out an attack on Majdal Shams,” an unusual move for Hezbollah.
The strike occurred just before sunset, following earlier cross-border violence on Saturday. Hezbollah reported that three of its fighters were killed, without specifying the location. The Israeli military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot in the border village of Kfar Kila, with militants present at the time.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for nine different attacks using rockets and explosive drones against Israeli military posts, including a Katyusha rocket attack on the army command of the Haramoun Brigade in Maaleh Golani. These attacks were said to be in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu, who was visiting the United States, is cutting his trip short to return to Israel and convene the security Cabinet. Far-right members of his government are calling for a harsh response against Hezbollah. However, an all-out war with Hezbollah, a group with far superior firepower to Hamas, would be challenging for Israel’s military after nearly 10 months of fighting in Gaza.
Footage aired on Israeli Channel 12 showed a large blast in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981. While some Druze hold Israeli citizenship, many still have sympathies for Syria and rejected the Israeli annexation, though their ties with Israeli society have grown over the years.
