Israel’s Foreign Minister said on Saturday evening that Hezbollah is facing “all-out war” and had ''crossed all red lines'' after a barrage of rockets struck a football pitch in the Golan Heights killing 12 people and injuring at least 13.
Israeli officials said the rocket had been fired from Lebanon. But Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has been trading tit-for-tat rocket fire with Israel most days since October, denied being behind the strike on the mainly Druze town of Majdal Shams.
However, the attack – whose victims were said by local officials to include children as young as 10 – threatens to provoke a major escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border, which has been looming for months.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said his country is facing an “all-out war”.
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all red lines,” he told Israeli outlet Channel 12.
“Hezbollah fired a rocket at children playing football 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.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning to Israel early and as soon as possible from his trip to the US, his office said.
An Israel reservist has told The National he fears the attack could be the trigger for war.
“In a normal world this would easily be a trigger for war, but this is Israel in 2024,” Lior Shelef said from the Golan Heights.
“I’ve been on reserves for almost 300 days and my family is evacuated in a hotel. If that’s not a trigger for a war already then I don’t know what is. Honestly, I don’t know, but this should be a trigger for war.
The population in Majdal Shams is mostly from the Druze minority, most of whom do not have Israeli citizenship but are loyal to the state of Israel, which governs the area, provides services and security.
The Lebanese government condemned “all acts of violence and attacks against all civilians” in a statement following the rocket attack.
Police and the army confirmed rockets had hit several sites on Saturday, with the army blaming Hezbollah.
The Jerusalem Post reported the attack came after four Hezbollah fighters were killed earlier in the day.
Hezbollah has said three of its fighters have been killed in an Israeli strike.
The Iran-aligned Al-Mayadeen network said 100 rockets were fired in the attack in the Golan Heights.
