Jerusalem: A rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field Saturday in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, killing at least 12 people, mostly teenagers and children, according to the Israeli military. It was the deadliest single attack from across Israel's northern border in months of hostilities and raised fears of an escalation in the conflict.
Israeli officials accused Hezbollah, the politically powerful Lebanese armed group, of firing the rocket, citing intelligence assessments. Hezbollah denied responsibility, although the group did say it had launched several barrages of missiles at northern Israel on Saturday.
The Israeli emergency rescue service, Magen David Adom, said that in addition to the 12 dead, about 20 people had been wounded, some of them seriously, in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. The Israeli military said that the ages of those killed or wounded ranged from 10 to 20 years old, and that they had been playing soccer at the time of the attack.
Idan Avshalom, a paramedic with Magen David Adom, described a "gruesome" scene at the soccer field, with bodies on the ground and fires burning. "We immediately began triage," he said.
While Israel has been fighting a war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in the south, for almost 10 months, it has also traded fire on a second front, in the north, with Iran-backed Hezbollah. Hamas has also occasionally attacked Israel from Lebanese soil since it launched the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel that set off the war in Gaza.
For months, the well-armed Hezbollah has fired thousands of missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with Hamas, leading tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate their homes. Israel has struck back in Lebanon, devastating towns near the border, prompting more than 90,000 to flee north and killing more than 500 people, mostly militants.
At the same time, the two sides have sought to avoid igniting a full-blown war, which would likely devastate both Israel and Lebanon. But experts have warned that a deadly miscalculation could ignite a broader escalation, and on both sides of the border, Israelis and Lebanese were left wondering Saturday night whether the attack on Majdal Shams was just that.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the lead spokesperson for the Israeli military, called the strike "a brutal attack" and vowed that Israel would respond against Hezbollah. He said Israel's security chiefs were meeting to discuss potential actions.
"We will act to restore full security on our northern border," he said at a news conference.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war, and it is home to more than 20,000 Druze Arabs. Israel effectively annexed the territory in 1981, a move that was widely rejected by the international community. Nearly four decades later, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the plateau, but other powerful countries have not followed suit.
There are four Druze villages in the Golan; their Arabic-speaking residents practice a largely esoteric religion that is often described as an offshoot of Ismaili Islam. While many residents feel loyal to Syria, thousands have become Israeli citizens.
Residents of the town of Majdal Shams expressed horror and sadness in the wake of the deadly strike.
"I didn't expect that our village would be hit, but it's happened now," said Madad al-Shaer, 50, an owner of a falafel and hummus restaurant. "No one is protected. It doesn't matter if you're living in a Druze or Jewish village."
Shaer, a father of three, said that his daughter frequently played at the soccer field that was struck but that she was not there Saturday.
In a Facebook post, the Majdal Shams local council said that "a dark day" had befallen the village and called on people to stay in their homes.
The Biden administration has sought to mediate a truce between Israel and Hezbollah, including by dispatching Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to the president, to meet with senior officials in Jerusalem and Beirut.
"The United States will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority," the White House's National Security Council said in a statement Saturday, referring to the demarcation between Israel, Lebanon and the Golan Heights. "Our support for Israel's security is ironclad."
But Hezbollah has said it will not cease its attacks until Israel ends its campaign in Gaza -- a prospect that remains remote.
The strike on Majdal Shams was likely to increase the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to respond more forcefully to Hezbollah's rocket and drone attacks, which have escalated in recent weeks.
Nearly 10 months into the war, the roughly 60,000 Israelis evacuated from communities near the border remain displaced. They have little idea of when they might return, and some say only a major operation against Hezbollah will make them feel safe enough to go back home.
Right-wing Israeli lawmakers called for Israel to launch a major military operation against Hezbollah in response to the strike. Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right government minister, has argued for months that Israel should create a buffer zone inside Lebanon to drive Hezbollah away from the border.
"For the death of small children, Nasrallah should pay with his head," Smotrich wrote on social media after the attack Saturday, referring to Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah. "Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price."
Mohanad Hage Ali, a Beirut-based fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said that there would be a "strong Israeli response" to the strike but that Hezbollah would in turn demonstrate restraint so as not to risk all-out war.
Without naming Hezbollah or any other militant group, the Lebanese government condemned "all acts of violence and aggression" against all civilians and called targeting them "a flagrant violation of international law."
During the 2006 Lebanon war between Israel and Hezbollah, a rocket fired by the militant group killed two Arab children in the Israeli city of Nazareth. Nasrallah later made a public apology.
After Saturday's attack, Netanyahu held an emergency security meeting, according to a statement from his office. He has been in the United States for the last few days for meetings with President Joe Biden and Trump, who is running for president again.
Later Saturday, Netanyahu's office said he had instructed that his return flight be made as early as possible.
"Israel will not allow this to pass quietly," Netanyahu said in a statement.