Israel's Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Eli Cohen warned that "Lebanon should burn" in a social media post after an attack alleged to have been carried out by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah left children and teenagers dead on Saturday.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in an apparent rocket strike that Israeli emergency services say killed 12 people, including minors, at a soccer field in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.
The attack, which comes amid worsening Israel-Lebanon border violence in the midst of war raging in the Gaza Strip, was first reported Saturday by local media. It was later confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has said those killed were between the ages of 10 and 20 years old, and that 20 more were injured.
"Lebanon should burn," Cohen wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "We must take significant action in the north, which will exact a heavy price from Lebanon and Hezbollah. What cruel terrorist organization shoots at playing children?"
He added: "Sending condolences to the families of those murdered from Majdal Shams, our Druze brothers, who lost their loved ones today."
The Druze are an Arab religious minority throughout Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The group traces its origins to a branch of Shia Islam, but their beliefs were also influenced by a range of religious traditions—including Christianity. Israel and the Golan Heights are home to more than 140,000 Druze, according to Israeli data from 2019.
In a statement shared with Newsweek by the IDF, spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari called it "the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7th," when a Hamas-led attack on Israel killed around 1,200 people, the majority of them civilians, according to Israeli officials.
Following what the IDF called a "situational assessment and the intelligence in our possession," the Israeli military stated that "the rocket launch toward Majdal Shams was carried out by the Hezbollah terrorist organization."
"The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon categorically denies allegations made by some 'Israeli' media outlets and various media platforms about its involvement in targeting Majdal Shams," a Hezbollah spokesperson said in a statement shared with Newsweek. "The Islamic Resistance has absolutely nothing to do with the incident and denies all false allegations in this regard."
Hagari later released a statement accusing Hezbollah of lying about the attack. "Hezbollah then lied to the whole world and claimed they did not carry out this attack," he said, vowing that Israel would "act" in response to the Lebanese militant group.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment.
The United States has discouraged Israel from expanding its ongoing war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
However, tensions have soared between Israel and Hezbollah since the outbreak of the Gaza war following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. In response, Israel launched a major assault on Gaza, which has left more than 39,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry as cited by the Associated Press.
Hezbollah, which has long positioned itself as a champion of Palestinians, has routinely exchanged rocket fired with Israel since the war in Gaza began.
Some 450 people have been killed in Lebanon as a result of the ongoing conflict, according to the AP. While most of those have been Hezbollah fighters, around 90 civilians and non-combatants have also died. In Israel, 44 have been killed due to the cross-border exchange, about half of whom have been Israeli soldiers, the AP reported.
Update, 7/27/24 at 3:21 p.m. ET: This article was initially published as breaking news and additional information was added. The headline was also changed.
Update, 7/27/24 at 4:04 p.m. ET: Additional comment from IDF spokesperson was added.
Update, 7/27/24 at 4:57 p.m. ET: More information about the Druze was added.
Update, 7/27/24 at 5:51 p.m. ET: The death toll was updated.
Update, 7/29/24 at 8:48 a.m. ET: The death toll was updated.
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Jason Lemon is a Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to taking on the editor role, Jason's reporting focused on ... Read more
