Rocket fire kills 12 in annexed Golan

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights — Thousands of mourners attended funeral ceremonies on Sunday 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' Oct 7 assault sparked the conflict in Gaza, which has since spread to several fronts and now risks spilling into a wider regional conflict.

It came hours after officials in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school housing thousands of displaced Palestinians killed at least 30 people. Israel said it was targeting "terrorists "operating from the school.

The rocket fire at a soccer pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to return early from the United States to convene his security cabinet. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Hezbollah had "crossed all red lines".

Israel's military said later on Sunday it hit Hezbollah targets "both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon".

Hezbollah has said its cross-border fire is an act of support for Palestinian Islamists from Hamas who have been fighting the Israeli military since Oct 7 when they attacked southern Israel.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,324 people, according to Gaza authorities.

In the wake of the strike, an Agence France-Presse photographer saw medics carrying casualties on stretchers at the scene where dozens of residents had gathered.

Mourners, many in traditional high white and red Druze headwear, gathered for funerals, surrounding the caskets as they were carried through the crowds.

Hezbollah denial

Hezbollah had initially announced it fired rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan Heights, territory captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized by most countries.

However, it denied involvement in the attack on Majdal Shams, saying it had "absolutely nothing to do with the incident and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard".

Israel has placed the blame squarely on Hezbollah, saying it was "unequivocally responsible "for the deaths of the children as they were playing soccer. "The rocket that murdered our boys and girls was an Iranian rocket and Hezbollah is the only terror organization which has those in its arsenal," Israel's Foreign Ministry said.

The Lebanese government asked the US to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters. Bou Habib said the US had asked Lebanon's government to pass on a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well.

Iran warned Israel on Sunday against what it called any new adventure in Lebanon, in a statement issued by Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani. However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the site of the strike, said, "We will hit the enemy hard."

The conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border has forced tens of thousands of people from both sides to leave their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.

The latest strike on a school in Gaza came after a dayslong military operation further south that killed about 170 and wounded hundreds, Gaza's civil defense agency said.

The Health Ministry reported"30 martyrs and more than 100 wounded" in the strike on Khadija school in the Deir el-Balah area.

Israel's military said Palestinian militants were using the compound as a "hiding place".

The latest Gaza strike was at least the eighth time since July 6 a school has been hit.

With most of the Gaza Strip's 2.4 million people displaced at least once during the conflict, many have sought refuge in school buildings, including the one hit on Saturday.

Agencies Via Xinhua