A rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Saturday killed at least 10 people and wounded several others, including children, Israel said, hours after an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon killed three members of the Hezbollah militant group.
The strike, the deadliest attack on an Israeli target since fighting between the two enemies began in October, raised fears of a possible escalation of violence. wider conflagration Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning home as quickly as possible after a trip to the United States, his office said.
Hezbollah said it had struck a military base in the the golan heights in retaliation for Israeli attacks on a village in Lebanon.
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Hezbollah’s chief spokesman, Mohammed Afif, told The Associated Press that the group “categorically denies carrying out an attack on Majdal Shams.”
Chief Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari He told reporters that “Hezbollah is lying.” He said the 10 people killed were all between the ages of 10 and 20, and that more than 20 others were injured.
The Israeli army said in a statement on Saturday that according to the information in its possession, “the rocket attack on Majdal Shams was carried out by the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”
“The terrorist organization Hezbollah is behind the rocket attack on a soccer field in Majdal Shams that caused several civilian casualties, including children, earlier this evening,” the statement said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service initially reported 11 people injured, nine of them seriously, all aged between 10 and 20. Israeli public broadcaster Kan broadcast footage of some people being rushed to ambulances on stretchers from a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams.
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“These were children on a soccer field,” Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the local council, told Israel’s Channel 12. “Today a red line has been crossed,” he said, urging Israeli leaders to start targeting senior Hezbollah commanders.
The Israeli army said a projectile had been identified as coming from Lebanon and that it was cooperating with the MDA to evacuate the wounded. Channel 12 broadcast footage of a loud explosion in one of the city’s valleys.
Hezbollah said in a statement that its 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 had earlier said three of its members were killed Saturday, 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.
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Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Middle East War and later annexed it in 1981.
Israel and Hezbollah exchanged almost daily shootings since the war The Israeli offensive in Gaza began after a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. killed more than 39,000 peopleAccording to local health authorities, the floods have displaced more than 80 percent of the territory’s population and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanese-Israeli border has intensified with Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks hitting deeper and further from the border.
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, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed before Saturday.
