Middle East updates: Rocket hits Golan football pitch

The European Union's foreign affairs chief called on all parties to "exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation" after an attack that hit a football pitch in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Josep Borrell strongly condemned "this bloodbath," calling the images captured in the aftermath, "shocking."

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Borrell also called for an independent international investigation into the incident. 

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike that killed 11 people, including children. 

But the Lebanese militant group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several other countries, has denied any role.

The United States condemned the "horrific" attack on a Druze village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

In a statement, the White House National Security Council said the US "will continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority."

The Blue Line is a UN-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon.

The White House also did not blame anyone for the attack. 

It did, however, say, "our support for Israel's security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah."

Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah "will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far," his office said.

The Israeli prime minister made the remarks in a phone call to the leader of the Druze community in Israel, according to a statement from his office.

"Israel will not let this murderous attack go unanswered," he said.

Authorities upped the death toll of a strike on a Druze village in Israel-occupied Golan Heights to 11. 

Israel is blaming Hezbollah for the strike, but the Lebanese militant group has rushed to deny any role.

Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.

Netanyahu, who was on a visit to the United States, said he would cut short his trip by several hours.

His office said he would convene the security Cabinet after arriving back in Israel.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, "the world cannot continue to sit in silence in the face of Nasrallah's terror attacks, which come at the behest of the empire of evil in Iran."

He was referring to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, who Israel blames for the deadly rocket strike on Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"The State of Israel will firmly defend its citizens and its sovereignty," Herzog wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

The town that was attacked is mainly inhabited by Druze, an Arabic-speaking religious community.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.

"The Islamic Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the incident, and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard," it said in a statement. 

The Lebanese government on Saturday condemned "all acts of violence and aggression against civilians."

The condemnation comes after ten people were killed in a rocket attack from Lebanon on a village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"Targeting civilians is a flagrant violation of international law and goes against the principles of humanity," a government statement said, calling for "an immediate cessation of hostilities." 

The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of carrying out the attack, but the group denied any involvement.

Since Hezbollah ally Hamas' terror attack on southern Israel last October there have been constant cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

The Israeli military is preparing a response against what it called the deadliest strike against the country since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on October 7.

The statement comes after a rocket launched from Lebanon killed 10 people, including children, at a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"Our intelligence is clear. Hezbollah is responsible for the killing of innocent children, teens," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

The militant group has denied responsibility for the strike on Majdal Shams.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was consulting, "with his Military Secretary," and planning "a security assessment later with heads of the security establishment," his office said.

 

An Israeli attack on a school in Gaza has left at least 30 killed and over 100 injured, authorities in the Hamas-run enclave said on Saturday.

They said the school was serving as provisional shelter and housing displaced Palestinians.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it attacked the area of the school as it was targeting a "camouflaged Hamas command and control compound."

 

Israeli medics say at least 10 people were killed in a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Eli Bin, head of the Magen David Adom emergency service, said the victims were between the ages of 10 and 20.

The Israeli military said around 40 rockets were fired by the Lebanese group Hezbollahand one hit the football pitch in Majdal Shams, but the group denied it. 

"There is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all red lines," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Channel 12 news. "We are facing an all-out war."

The strike on Majdal Shams followed an earlier Israeli airstrike on Kfarkila in southern Lebanon in which four suspected militants were killed. 

The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted a military structure belonging to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah claimed at least four attacks, including with Katyusha rockets, in retaliation for the Kfarkila attacks.

A senior Hezbollah media representative, however, denied responsibility for the strike on Majdal Shams.

Hezbollah is both a Shiite political party and paramilitary organization in Lebanon. The group is designated a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab nations. The EU, meanwhile, designates its armed wing as a terrorist group. 

lo/wd (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)