Eleven teenagers and young adults were killed and 19 injured after an attack on a football stadium in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli military and emergency services spokesmen.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a rocket fell in the Majdal Shams area of the territory.
It was the deadliest attack in the region since cross-border clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah escalated when the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
The IDF blamed Hezbollah for the attack but Hezbollah spokesman Mohamad Afif denied “any connection to the Majdal Shams incident”.
“All the allegations [of the group’s involvement] is wrong”.
But before reports of the impact of the airstrikes emerged, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for four attacks, including one on the Hermon Brigade headquarters at the Ma’ale Golan barracks.
The incident comes after an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed four militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the United States, made an early announcement about his return home. He was briefed by aides on Saturday.
“We are facing an all-out war,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 12 news.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the incident a “horrific and shocking tragedy” and said that “the state of Israel will resolutely defend its citizens and its sovereignty”.
The Lebanese government also issued a rare statement in response, saying it “condemns all acts of violence and aggression against the entire civilian population and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts. Targeting civilians is a flagrant violation of international law and goes against the principles of humanity.”
Verified video shows crowds on the soccer field and stretchers being taken to waiting ambulances.
Majdal Shams is one of four villages in the Golan Heights, home to about 25,000 Druze people.
They were offered Israeli citizenship when the Golan Heights was annexed from Syria in 1981, but most refused.
Most remain loyal to Syria. Druze in the Golan can still study and work in Israel, although only those with citizenship can vote and serve in the military.
Most of the international community does not recognize Israel’s annexation of the area.
The Druze are part of an Arabic-speaking ethnic group based in Lebanon, Syria, and northern Israel. In Israel, they have full citizenship and make up about 1.5% of the population.
The Druze community in Israel is the only major non-Jewish group in the country whose members are required to serve in the IDF.
