Deadly rocket attack in Golan Heights threatens harsh Israeli payback

By Galit Altstein

Eleven children were killed and more than 20 injured in a rocket attack in the Golan Heights, raising concerns of a rapid escalation of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group based in Lebanon. 

The Israel Defense Forces said intelligence shows the rocket strike — which struck Majdal Shams, a Druze village — was carried out by Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. It was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since Hamas’s invasion on Oct. 7 set off the war in the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement he would return to Israel “as soon as possible” from his trip to the US. 

 

“Israel will not overlook the murderous attack,” Netanyahu told a senior Druze leader in a phone call, according to his office. “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for it, that it has not paid so far.”

As the rocket struck, Netanyahu was wrapping up a high-profile US trip that included an uncompromising speech to Congress and meetings with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

The US condemns the Majdal Shams attack and supports efforts to end attacks along the Blue Line, the UN-demarcated provisional border between Israel and Lebanon, which must be a priority, a spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House said.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on television that Israel “will retaliate in a disproportionate manner” and that the country was nearing an all-out war with Hezbollah.

In a separate attack in central Gaza, at least 30 people, including children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians, the Associated Press reported. Israel said it was targeting a Hamas command center. Hamas denied that claim. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant conducted a situational assessment with the Chief of the General Staff Major General Herzi Halevi and senior members of the military. 

“Gallant determined the direction of actions, and instructed the security establishment accordingly,” his office said in a statement.

The rocket was carrying an unusually heavy warhead, according to an IDF official, and hit a soccer field filled mostly with children and young adults aged 10-20 years old, according to Israeli emergency services. 

The strike was part of a wider barrage that included some 40 projectiles identified crossing from Lebanon by the Israeli military. Many were intercepted, and others fell in open areas.

Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari called that “a lie,” claiming that the group bears “direct responsibility for the the death of innocent children.”

“This is a severe incident and we will respond accordingly,” Hagari said in a televised statement. “We will do everything in our power to protect all citizens of Israel.” 

Hezbollah has targeted Israel’s north since the Gaza war began, launching a total of some 6,400 rockets and 340 drones at military and civilian targets. Israel has retaliated with attacks mostly in southern Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah commanders and infrastructure. Fighting has been escalating over recent months but was considered largely contained. 

Israel launched its punishing war against Hamas after the attacks in which 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed and 250 taken hostage to Gaza. The Hamas run health ministry in Gaza says the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 39,000. It doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians.