beirut — TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – A rocket strike Saturday on a soccer field killed at least 11 children and teens, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah erupted. It risked unleashing a broader regional war.
Israel blamed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for the strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, but Hezbollah rushed to deny any role. Israel’s military called it a “very serious” event and said it would act accordingly.
“Hezbollah fired a rocket at children playing soccer in northern Israel. It then lied and claimed they did not carry out the attack,” said the military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. He called it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attack on October 7 that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981.
“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 Israeli 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.” It is unusual for Hezbollah to deny an attack.
The militant group said its fighters carried out nine different attacks using rockets and explosive drones against Israeli military posts, the last of which targeted the army command of the Haramoun Brigade in Maaleh Golani with Katyusha rockets. It said it was in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in southern Lebanon.
Rocket hits soccer field
The Golan strike followed earlier cross-border violence on Saturday, when Hezbollah said three of its fighters were killed, without specifying where. Israel’s military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot on the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside at the time.
Footage of the Golan strike aired on Israeli Channel 12. It showed a large blast in one of the valleys in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. The video showed paramedics rushing stretchers off the soccer field toward waiting ambulances.
Ha’il Mahmoud, a resident of Majdal Shams, told Channel 12 that children were playing soccer when the rocket hit the field. He said a siren was heard seconds before the rocket hit, but there was no time to take shelter.
Netanyahu hurries home from US
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on a visit to the United States, said he would cut short his trip by several hours, without specifying when he would return. It said he will convene the security Cabinet after arriving.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government called for a harsh response against Hezbollah. But an all-out war with a militant group with far superior firepower to Hamas would be trying for Israel’s military after nearly 10 months of fighting in Gaza.
In a statement, Lebanon’s government without mentioning Majdal Shams, urged “immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts” and condemned all attacks on civilians.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since October 8, a day after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel. In recent weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border has intensified, with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah striking deeper and farther away from the border.
Saturday’s violence comes as Israel and Hamas are weighing a cease-fire proposal that would wind down the nearly 10-month war and free the roughly 110 hostages who remain captive in Gaza. Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 killed about 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel launched an offensive that has killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities. In May, Israel issued its estimate of the death toll at 30,000.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 44 have been killed, at least 21 of them soldiers.
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