Israel pledges to hit Hezbollah hard after rocket kills 12 on football field

Funeral ceremonies held for children killed in rocket strike as Israel vows retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Thousands of mourners attended funeral ceremonies on July 28 for the 12 children and teenagers killed by a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as Israel vowed swift retaliation against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, assault sparked the war in Gaza, which has since spread to several fronts and now risks spilling into a wider regional conflict.

Israeli jets hit targets in Southern Lebanon overnight, but a stronger response was expected following a meeting of the security cabinet at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from a visit to the United States and met security officials ahead of the meeting.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was every indication that the rocket that hit a sports field where children were playing football had been fired by Hezbollah and said Washington stood by Israel’s right to defend itself.

But he said the U.S. did not want a further escalation of the conflict, which has seen daily air strikes and exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah fighters in Southern Lebanon.

In the meantime, families gathered for funerals in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, territory captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.

The Druze, an Arab minority who practise a form of Islam, make up more than half the 40,000-strong population of the Golan Heights, and large crowds of mourners, many in traditional high white and red Druze headwear, surrounded the caskets as they were carried through the village.