At least 11 people were killed Saturday, mostly children and teens, and dozens more were wounded when a rocket from Lebanon hit a soccer field in the northern Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. It was the single deadliest Hezbollah attack on northern Israel since fighting there began in October.
Residents and first responders described scenes of bloody carnage on the pitch. Though a warning siren had sounded, it was too short an alert for the victims, who were unable to flee in time.
The shocking attack led to swift promises of retaliation and talk of an unprecedented response among Israeli officials as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hurried home from the US, raising the specter of a fresh escalation and a potential full-blown war between Israel and the Lebanese terror group.
Politicians from across the political spectrum expressed outrage at the attack and the government’s failure to bring security to the north after long months of fighting, while demanding decisive action against Hezbollah.
Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference on Saturday night that all the victims were aged 10 to 20.
Baruch Padeh Medical Center near Tiberias said four people in serious condition were brought to the hospital. Ziv Medical Center in Safed said it admitted 32 wounded, including six being treated in the trauma ward, 13 in moderate-to-serious condition, and 10 who were lightly hurt. Another four casualties were taken to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
Medics declared 10 of the victims dead at the scene, while the 11th was declared dead upon arriving at Ziv, officials said.
“We witnessed great destruction when we arrived at the soccer field, as well as items that were on fire. There were casualties on the grass and the scene was gruesome,” said Idan Avshalom, a medic with the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
Hezbollah initially claimed responsibility for a barrage of rockets at the area and a nearby military base. As news emerged of the rocket hitting the Druze town, and the deadly outcome of the strike, the terror group issued a statement that it had “absolutely nothing to do with the incident.”
The army rejected that assertion, saying the attack “was carried out by the Hezbollah terror group” while citing “assessments carried out by the IDF and reliable intelligence information available to us.”
The IDF said it had determined that the rocket was launched by the terror group from an area just north of the Lebanese village of Chebaa.
“In the past hour, Hezbollah has been lying and denying responsibility for the incident,” Hagari said. “Our intelligence is clear, Hezbollah is responsible for the murder of innocent children.
The attack came after the IDF on Saturday afternoon struck a cell of Hezbollah gunmen at a weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Kafr Kila. The military said the operatives were identified by troops of the 869th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit entering the weapons depot, and a short while later, an airstrike was carried out.
Hezbollah later confirmed that four of its operatives, members of the terror group’s elite Nukhba force, were killed in the strike.
Rocket fire from Hezbollah toward northern Israel was ongoing throughout Saturday, with one damaging a home in the border community of Arab al-Arashme in the morning. No injuries were reported in that attack.
Meanwhile, a Hezbollah drone apparently heading toward offshore gas infrastructure in Israel’s territorial waters on Saturday morning was shot down by the ship-mounted Iron Dome system, known as C-Dome.
According to the IDF, one of the Navy’s Sa’ar 6-class corvettes intercepted the drone at a significant distance from the Karish gas field, and there was no threat to the offshore infrastructure in the incident. The IDF said it was still investigating if the drone was laden with explosives or used by Hezbollah for surveillance.
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