A view of the damage to the football field after a missile attack on the town of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights, which is Israel-occupied territory. At least 11 people were killed and 37 others injured in a missile attack, the Israeli authorities claimed. Photo / Anadolu via Getty Images
A view of the damage to the football field after a missile attack on the town of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights, which is Israel-occupied territory. At least 11 people were killed and 37 others injured in a missile attack, the Israeli authorities claimed. Photo / Anadolu via Getty Images
A rocket attack on a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has killed 12 people including children, Israeliauthorities say, blaming Hezbollah militants and vowing to inflict a heavy price on the Iran-backed Lebanese group.
Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the strike, thedeadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since the start of the conflict in Gaza last October.
The attack sharply escalated tensions in the hostilities which have been fought in parallel to the Gaza war and has raised fears of a full-blown conflict between the heavily armed adversaries.
The rocket struck a football pitch in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which is territory captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.
“Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has thus far not paid,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a phone call with the leader of the Druze community in Israel, according to a statement from his office.
At least 11 people were killed and 37 others injured in a missile attack, the Israeli authorities claimed. It added that 17 of the injured are in "serious" condition. Photo / Anadolu via Getty Images
In a written statement, Hezbollah said: “The Islamic Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the incident, and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard”.
Hezbollah had earlier announced several rocket attacks targeting Israeli military positions.
The Israeli ambulance service said 13 more people were wounded by the rocket that hit the football pitch which was filled at the time with children and teenagers.
“They were playing soccer, they heard sirens they ran to shelter ... it may take them like 15 seconds (to reach the shelter). But they couldn’t reach the shelter because the rocket hit the site between the ground and the shelter,” said Mourhaf Abu Saleh, a witness.
Footage posted on social media showed the moment the rocket hit. An air raid siren can be heard, followed by a big explosion and images of smoke rising. Reuters was able to independently verify the location with the buildings and road layout that matched the satellite imagery of the area.
Bodies of the victims are seen near the football field. Photo / Anadolu via Getty Images
Netanyahu, already due to head back from the United States to Israel today NZT, said he would bring his flight forward and convene his security cabinet upon arrival.
The United States, which has been leading diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating the conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border, condemned it as a horrific attack and said US support for Israel’s security was “iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah”.
The Israeli military said the rocket launch was carried out from an area located north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon.
Speaking with reporters at Majdal Shams, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that forensics showed the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1.
In a televised statement, Hagari also said that for now there was no change in home front command instructions, indicating the Army was not expecting imminent escalation across Israel.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition ally, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, called for tough retaliation, including against Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
“For the death of children, Nasrallah should pay with his life. All of Lebanon should pay,” Smotrich posted on X.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to leave their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.
The Israeli military said after the attack the death toll among civilians killed in Hezbollah assaults had risen to 23 since October, including at least 17 soldiers.
Hezbollah is the most powerful of a network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East that have entered the fray in support of their Palestinian ally Hamas since October.
