Attack on the Golan Heights: At least eleven young people killed in suspected Hezbollah attack on football pitch in Israeli-occupied territory

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At least 11 teenagers and young adults were killed when a rocket exploded at a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, emergency services reported.

Verified footage showed crowds of people gathering at a football pitch and being carried on stretchers to waiting ambulances, while another 19 people were injured in the attack.

Israel’s Channel 12 showed footage of a large explosion in one of the valleys of the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981.

Israel quickly blamed Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia based in southern Lebanon, for the attack. However, the group denied any responsibility. The group usually takes responsibility for its attacks on Israeli soil.

It is the deadliest attack on an Israeli target on the country’s northern border since fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah, and risks sparking a larger regional war.

The militant group had previously stated that its fighters had carried out nine separate attacks with rockets and explosive drones on Israeli military posts, the last of which targeted the Haramoun Brigade army command in Maaleh Golani with Katyusha rockets.

Hezbollah, which is allied with Hamas, another Iran-backed militia that controls the Gaza Strip, has been fighting Israel in solidarity with the Gaza-based group since it killed around 1,200 Israeli citizens and took 251 others hostage on October 7. About half of those hostages are still in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said the latest rocket hit the Majdal Shams area in the Golan Heights.

“Hezbollah fired a rocket at children playing soccer in northern Israel. They then lied and claimed they did not carry out the attack,” said the military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Hezbollah spokesman Mohamad Afif previously denied “any connection to the Majdal Shams incident.”

“All allegations (of the group’s involvement) are false,” he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the United States, will return to Israel early in the morning to review events. The country’s top diplomat, Israel Katz, told a local television station that they are now facing “all-out war.”

The Lebanese government, a separate entity from Hezbollah, also issued a rare statement in response to the attack.

It states that it “condemns all acts of violence and aggression against the civilian population and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts”.

“Targeted attacks on civilians constitute a blatant violation of international law and violate the principles of humanity,” it added.

Israeli air strikes had previously hit a school in the Gaza Strip where dozens of displaced people had sought shelter. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 30 people were killed.

Eight women and 15 children were among those killed in an attack on a girls’ school in Deir Al-Balah. The injured were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital. People were seen searching through the rubble for other victims. More than 100 were injured.

The Israeli military said it had attacked a Hamas command and control center where weapons were stored and attacks were planned. In a statement, it added that civilians had been warned before the attack.

Majdal Shams is one of four villages in the Golan Heights where about 25,000 Druze live.

Most refused Israeli citizenship when it was offered to them after Israel annexed the region from Syria in 1981. Many have remained loyal to Syria since then, although about 1.5 percent of the population have acquired full citizenship rights.

Druze in the Golan Heights can still study and work in Israel. However, only Druze with Israeli citizenship are allowed to vote and serve in the military.

The vast majority of the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of the territory.

The Israeli Druze community is the only major non-Jewish group in the country whose members are required to serve in the Israeli military.