A rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed at least 10 people and wounded several others, including children, Israel said, hours after an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed three members of the Hezbollah militant group.
The attack, the deadliest attack on an Israeli target since war between the two rivals erupted in October, sparked fears a more extensive fire in the area. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned home early after a trip to the United States, his office said.
Hezbollah said it attacked a military base in Golan Heights in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a village in Lebanon.
A spokesman for Hezbollah leader Mohammed Afif told The Associated Press that the group “rejects the Majdal Shams attack”.
Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari asserted to reporters that “Hezbollah lied.” He said all 10 people killed were between 10 and 20 years old and more than 20 others were injured.
The Israeli military said in a statement that according to the intelligence in its possession, “the launch of rockets to Majdal Shams was carried out by the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
“The Hezbollah terrorist organization was behind the rocket launch at the football field in Majdal Shams that caused many civilian casualties, including children, this evening,” the statement said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service initially reported 11 people injured, nine critically, and all aged between 10 and 20. Israeli Public Broadcaster Kan prepared footage of some being taken to ambulances on stretchers from a football field in the town of Majdal Shams.
“These are children on the football field,” Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the local council, told Israel’s Channel 12. “Today the red line has been crossed,” he said, urging Israeli leaders to start targeting Hezbollah’s top commanders.
The Israeli military said a projectile was identified crossing from Lebanon into the area, adding that it was cooperating with the MDA to evacuate the wounded. Channel 12 aired footage of a massive explosion in one of the city’s valleys.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the militants fired Katyusha rockets at an Israeli army post in the Golan Heights in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon. The group said earlier that three of its members had died on Saturday without specifying where. The Israeli military said the air force targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot in the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside the compound.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading near the fire every day since the war in Gaza began after a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7 killed some 1,200 people and took 250 more hostages. Israel launched an attack that continues to this day killing more than 39,000 peopleaccording to local health authorities, it displaced more than 80% of the people in the area and caused a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, the exchange of fire in Lebanon-Israel has intensified with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah deeper and farther from the border.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly members of Hezbollah, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed earlier on Saturday.