“We will prepare for a response against Hezbollah, we will complete our assessments and we will act,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Saturday.
He described the shelling as the “deadliest attack against Israeli civilians since October 7”. According to Israeli sources, several towns in the Golan Heights were hit by rockets fired from Lebanon on Saturday. According to the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, at least ten people were killed in a direct hit on the town of Majdal Shams. 19 other people were injured. The military later said that the number of dead was definitely eleven.
The Israeli army said the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon was behind the rocket attack. Hezbollah, however, denied this. “The Islamic Resistance has no connection to this incident,” Hezbollah said, referring to its military wing.
“All acts of violence against civilians” condemned
The Lebanese government condemned on Saturday “all acts of violence and aggression against civilians.” “Attacking civilians is a blatant violation of international law and contradicts the principles of humanity,” it said.
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which was triggered by Hamas’ unprecedented major attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-allied Hezbollah from Lebanon has been firing rockets into northern Israel almost daily.
The Israeli army said that helicopters, ambulances and mobile intensive care units were deployed at the site in Majdal Shams. As an AFP correspondent observed, medics were carrying injured people on stretchers from the site where the rocket in question had hit for treatment.
Katz threatened Lebanon with war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now wants to return to Israel from the USA as soon as possible. “Immediately after the disaster became known, Prime Minister Netanyahu gave instructions to expedite the return to Israel as quickly as possible,” his office wrote on X. Netanyahu had his military advisor in the USA brief him on the situation in the attacked village of Majdal Shams. After his return, the head of government will convene the security cabinet, his office said.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Katz even threatened Lebanon with war. “We are approaching the moment of a full-scale war against Hezbollah and Lebanon,” Katz told the news portal Axios. “Today’s attack by Hezbollah crossed all red lines, and the response will be accordingly.”
