Jul 27, 2024,04:40pm EDT
TOPLINE: A rocket launched from Lebanon struck a soccer field in Israel’s Golan Heights on Saturday, killing at least 10 people. Israel immediately blamed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which denied the claim. This incident occurred just hours after an Israeli airstrike on a school in the Gaza Strip resulted in at least 30 deaths.
KEY FACTS:
- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that the rocket in Golan Heights caused multiple civilian casualties, including children.
- Hezbollah denied involvement, but IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari accused Hezbollah of lying, stating that 10 children were killed and over 20 were injured, all aged between 8 and 20.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price” for the attack, and Foreign Minister Israel Katz indicated that the country is “nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.”
- The rocket strike follows an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza school, which Palestinian officials said killed at least 30 people and injured 100 more. The IDF claimed the airstrike targeted a Hamas command center.
KEY BACKGROUND:
- Israel declared war on Gaza-based militant group Hamas on October 7, following a Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed approximately 1,200 people.
- Since the war began, over 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, though the agency does not distinguish between civilians and troops.
- There are growing concerns about a wider regional conflict as other militant groups, primarily the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, become involved.
- Recently, Israel attacked Yemen’s Al Hudaydah Port in response to a Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv.
- Hezbollah, which has ties to Iran, has also clashed with Israel since the war in Gaza began. In January, Hezbollah’s senior commander Wissam Tawil was killed in an Israeli airstrike, and in April, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone strike on an Israeli military base.