‘We will respond appropriately’, Israeli army spokesperson says
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari has given a news briefing on the Majdal Shams attack.
“Hezbollah is lying, it is denying its responsibility” Hagari said, adding that an investigation by the army had determined the group was behind the attack. The Lebanese group earlier put out a statement denying its involvement.
“Once again, the brutality of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation is revealed to everybody and we will respond appropriately,” he said. “We are in an escalating war and tonight’s incident is a very difficult incident, children have been targeted and those children are Druze Israeli citizens.”
Ten killed, 20 wounded in Majdal Shams: Israeli army
At least 10 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in the attack on Majdal Shams, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari has said.
Hagari said the victims were children playing at a local football pitch.
“All were aged between 10 to 20 years old,” he said, adding that Israel will defend the Druze community that was victim of the attack.
“This attack shows the true face of Hezbollah, a terrorist organisation that murders children. We will act to restore full security on our northern border for all citizens of the state of Israel,” Hagari added.
What does that make the IDF after killing 15,000 children in Gaza...
On Israel: ‘They don’t care. They lie. They exaggerate.’
Rami Khouri, a public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut speaking from Boston, has said that Hezbollah is very precise in its statements.
“When it says that it did not fire the rockets that landed in Majdal Shams, probably one should believe them because their track record is one of not exaggerating. They do what they say they’re going to do and they admit what they did or not do,” Khouri said.
“This is a typical situation that we have had not just since October, but for the past 10-15 years, where retaliatory strikes by one side against strikes from the other build up tension – and this one is particularly dramatic – because it hit a football field.”
The Israeli response is normally theatrical, Khouri told Al Jazeera, because “their concern for children being killed in war is not believable, in view of their incredible machinery that has focused on killing tens of thousands of children in Gaza. They don’t care. They lie. They exaggerate”.
Israel’s president says ‘world cannot sit in silence’ in the face of Hezbollah’s attacks
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said “the world cannot continue to sit in silence in the face of Nasrallah’s terror attacks,” after the attack in Majdal Shams.
The Israeli military has blamed the air raid on Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, lead by Hassan Nasrallah, but the group has denied any responsibility.
“Hezbollah, armed and funded by Iran, does not distinguish between child or adult, soldier or civilian, Jew or Muslim, Druze or Christian,” he said on X. “The State of Israel will firmly defend its citizens and its sovereignty.”
Lebanon condemns ‘violence against civilians’ after deadly Golan attack
Lebanon’s government condemned on Saturday attacks on civilians and called for an end to hostilities on all fronts.
Its statement came after the Israeli military said 10 people were killed in a rocket attack on a village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of being behind the attack but the group denied any involvement.
“Targeting civilians is a flagrant violation of international law and goes against the principles of humanity,” a Lebanese government statement said, calling “for an immediate cessation of hostilities” after months of cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.
Israeli army says rocket on Majdal Shams launched from Sheba
The Israeli army says its investigation revealed that the attack that hit Majdal Shams originated from an area located north of Sheba, a village that lies in an area along the border of Lebanon and the occupied Golan Heights that has long been disputed.
The statement issued on X stated again that Hezbollah was responsible for the rocket that struck a football pitch in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
