The Guardian

Israeli minister threatens ‘all-out war’ with Hezbollah after Golan Heights attack – as it happened

By Yohannes Lowe,

22 hours ago

2.52pm BST

Closing summary

Thousands of mourners attended funeral ceremonies on Sunday for the 12 children and teenagers – aged between 10 and 16 – who were killed by a rocket strike that hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams , in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights , yesterday.
Israel has vowed swift retaliation against Hezbollah, which it blames for the attack. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken , also believes Hezbollah fired the rocket. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group deny any involvement. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant , said Hezbollah will pay a “price for this loss”. The country’s education minister, Yoav Kisch , said he expects the cabinet to respond “with full force” to the attack “even if it means entering into an all-out war” with Hezbollah. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu , who has flown back early from his diplomatic trip to the US, vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price”. He is convening a security cabinet meeting this afternoon, the outcome of which is expected to be decisive.
The IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi , said Israel was “greatly increasing our readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north, as we are simultaneously fighting in Gaza”.
The United Nations urged “maximum restraint”, in a joint statement from their special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) chief Aroldo Laza. Other countries, such as France and the UK, have also called for a deescalation of conflict.
Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah is on high alert, with the Lebanese militant group having preemptively cleared out some key sites in both Lebanon’s south and the eastern Bekaa Valley in the event of a possible attack by Israel.
The Lebanese government asked the US to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib , said. He told Reuters earlier that a significant attack by Israel would lead to a “regional war”.
At least 39,324 Palestinian people have been killed and 90,830 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said .
On Saturday, in the hours prior to the strike on Majdal Shams, an estimated 40 rockets were directed at Israel from Lebanese territory. Israel has responded with airstrikes targeting towns deep in Lebanese territory.

We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here .

2.44pm BST

Death toll in Gaza reaches 39,324, says health ministry

At least 39,324 Palestinian people have been killed and 90,830 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry has said.

Gaza’s health ministry said 66 Palestinians have been killed and 241 injured over the past 24 hours due to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.

2.37pm BST

Al Jazeera has quoted Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide as saying that “an escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could represent a turning point” in the region.

In a statement condemning the Golan Heights attack, he said:

A great responsibility rests on the leaders in the entire region. I repeat our strong call to all parties, including those who support the various sides in this conflict, to do what they can to exercise restraint and avoid this developing into a major regional war.
An escalation now of retaliatory attacks could have consequences for the security situation in the entire Middle East.

Updated at 2.37pm BST

2.25pm BST

The UK’s foreign secretary, David Lammy , has condemned the deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

He said the UK is “deeply concerned” about the risk of further “escalation and destabilisation” in the region after the attack, which Israel has blamed on Hezbollah.

2.18pm BST

Through a statement issued by its foreign ministry, Egypt has stressed the importance of supporting Lebanon and “sparing it the scourge of war”, as it warned of the dangers of opening a new war front with Lebanon.

Updated at 2.20pm BST

2.01pm BST

We reported earlier that Israel’s military said on Sunday it had hit Hezbollah targets “both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon” ( see the opening summary for more details).

A Lebanese security source has told AFP that an Israeli drone fired two missiles at Taraiyya village in eastern Lebanon, destroying a hanger and a home without causing casualties.

1.57pm BST

Hezbollah has declared its attacks on Israel to be in support of Hamas and indicated its willingness to halt its assaults if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

Israeli authorities, on the other hand, have said military action in Lebanon remains a potential course of action should diplomatic efforts prove unsuccessful.

You can read this explainer from the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke , on the formation and objectives of Hezbollah:

1.28pm BST

Summary of the day so far...

Thousands of mourners attended funeral ceremonies on Sunday for the 12 children and teenagers – aged between 10 and 16 – who were killed by a rocket strike that hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams , in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights , yesterday.
Israel has vowed swift retaliation against Hezbollah, which it blames for the attack. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken , also believes Hezbollah fired the rocket. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group deny any involvement. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant , said Hezbollah will pay a “price for this loss”. The country’s education minister, Yoav Kisch , said he expects the cabinet to respond “with full force” to the attack “even if it means entering into an all-out war” with Hezbollah. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu , who has flown back early from his diplomatic trip to the US, vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price”. He will be convening a security cabinet meeting this afternoon. The outcome of the meeting is expected to be decisive.
The IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi , said Israel was “greatly increasing our readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north, as we are simultaneously fighting in Gaza”.
Two security sources told Reuters that Hezbollah is on high alert, with the Lebanese militant group having preemptively cleared out some key sites in both Lebanon’s south and the eastern Bekaa Valley in the event of a possible attack by Israel.
The Lebanese government asked the US to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib , said. He told Reuters earlier that a significant attack by Israel would lead to a “regional war”.
The latest round of talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release deal are still expected to start in Rome.
On Saturday, in the hours prior to the strike on Majdal Shams, an estimated 40 rockets were directed at Israel from Lebanese territory. Israel has responded with airstrikes targeting towns deep in Lebanese territory.

You can read a full report on the Golan Heights attack and the reaction to it here .

Updated at 1.37pm BST

1.07pm BST

France’s foreign ministry has joined the list of those condemning the deadly attack in Majdal Shams.

The country’s foreign ministry said:

France condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack which hit the Druze community in Majdal Shams.
France demands that everything possible be done to avoid a new military escalation and we will continue work with the relevant parties on this.

France’s foreign ministry is reiterating advice to its citizens not to visit Israel, Lebanon, and the Palestinian territories. Norway’s embassy in Lebanon has urged its citizens to leave the country, reiterating existing travel warnings.

Updated at 1.11pm BST

12.54pm BST

Thousands of mourners have attended funeral ceremonies for the 12 children and teenagers killed by a rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights:

Updated at 2.02pm BST

12.46pm BST

Here is our video report summarising the events since the rocket hit Majdal Shams on Saturday:

Updated at 12.46pm BST

12.39pm BST

Israel 'greatly increasing' readiness for next stage of fighting in the north, army chief of staff says

On Sunday, visiting the scene of the rocket attack in Majdal Shams, the IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi , said Israel was “greatly increasing our readiness for the next stage of fighting in the north, as we are simultaneously fighting in Gaza”.

Halevi reiterated the Israeli position that Hezbollah was responsible for firing the Iranian-made missile. “A Falaq-1 rocket struck here in the soccer field, it is an Iranian rocket, manufactured in Iran ,” he told reporters.

“When required we will act strongly. Our duty is to return the residents of the north safely to their homes, in the entire north, the Galilee and the Golan Heights … It is a difficult day, we will work for better days,” he said.

12.18pm BST

Israeli minister expects cabinet to respond with 'full force' to Golan Heights attack even if it means entering 'an all-out war'

Israel’s education minister, Yoav Kisch , said he expects the cabinet to respond “with full force” after the deadly rocket attack in the occupied Golan Heights, “even if it means entering into an all-out war” with Hezbollah.

Kisch called the attack, which killed 12 children and teenagers, a “major disaster”, adding that the “situation cannot continue like this”. He has been visiting the families of the people who were killed in the attack in Majdal Shams, and says he has been meeting with the wider Druze community.

Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12 ealier that a wider war could break out.

“There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that,” he was quoted as saying. “We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.”

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib , told Reuters that a significant attack by Israel would lead to a “regional war”, underlying how close the region is to a wider conflict.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cut his US trip short and has arrived back in Israel to convene a security cabinet meeting at about 1pm (GMT time). We will share the latest updates on this as soon as we get them.

Updated at 1.19pm BST

11.54am BST

Evidence so far indicates that Hezbollah was behind rocket attack, US secretary of state says

We mentioned earlier that the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken , said he did not want to see an escalation of violence following the deadly attack in Golan Heights, which Israel has blamed on Hezbollah. Blinken said that the evidence so far suggests the rocket, which killed 12 people, including children, was fired by Hezbollah, something the Lebanese militant group has denied.

Here are some of Blinken’s quotes he gave at a press conference in Tokyo:

Well, with regard to the Golan Heights. First let me say that we are deeply saddened by the loss of life that we saw. There is no justification for terrorism, period, and every indication is that indeed the rockets were from or the rocket was from Hezbollah.
We stand by Israel’s right to defend its citizens from terrorist attacks, and one of the reasons that we are continuing to work so hard for a ceasefire in Gaza is not just for Gaza, but also so that we can really unlock an opportunity to bring calm, lasting calm, across the ‘blue line’ between Israel and Lebanon.
We are determined to bring the Gaza conflict to a close. It’s gone on for far too long. It has cost far too many lives. We want to see Israelis, we want to see Palestinians, we want to see Lebanese live free from the threat of conflict and violence.

Updated at 2.19pm BST

11.28am BST

Three Israeli reserve soldiers who fought in the war against Hamas say why they no longer want to be part of military

For Israeli military paramedic Yuval Green, it was the command to burn down a house that made him decide to end his reserve duty.

Green had spent 50 days in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis earlier this year with his paratrooper unit, sleeping in a home lit only by battery-powered fairy lights among the rubble and devastation.

He had begun to have doubts about the unit’s purpose there months earlier when he heard about Israel’s refusal to agree to Hamas’s demands to end the war , along with freeing hostages.

Green is one of three Israeli reservists who told the Observer they will not return if called for military service in Gaza. All three previously undertook compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which forms the backbone of society.

They returned after the 7 October attacks by Hamas militants, when almost 1,200 people were killed in towns and kibbutzim around Gaza and about 250 taken hostage.

But the destructive behaviour Green says he witnessed from other soldiers only fuelled the misgivings that he carried into Gaza, despairing at what he describes as a cycle of violence.

You can read the full story by Ruth Michaelson and Quique Kierszenbaum here:

Updated at 11.47am BST

11.16am BST

Hezbollah clears some key sites in Lebanon in case of attack by Israel - sources

Two security sources have told Reuters that Hezbollah is on high alert, with the Lebanese militant group having preemptively cleared out some key sites in both Lebanon’s south and the eastern Bekaa Valley in the event of a possible attack by Israel.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , had earlier vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a hefty price” after the deadly strike on a football pitch in a remote town in the occupied Golan Heights.

10.58am BST

Lebanon says it has asked US to urge restraint from Israel following deadly attack in Golan Heights

The Lebanese government has asked the US to urge restraint from Israel, Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib , has told Reuters.

Bou Habib said the US had asked the Lebanese government to pass on a message to Hezbollah to show restraint as well. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday he does not want to see an escalation of conflict.

The intervention comes as tensions build following the attack blamed on Hezbollah that killed 12 people, including children, in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

Hezbollah initially had announced it fired rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan heights, but denied involvement in the attack on Majdal Shams, saying it had “absolutely nothing to do with the incident, and categorically denies all false allegations in this regard”.

Bou Habib told Weekend on the BBC World Service that he doesn’t think that Hezbollah carried out the strike, saying that “it could be a mistake by the Israelis or by Hezbollah”.

However Israel, which said the rocket launch was carried out from an area located north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, has placed the blame squarely on the Iranian-backed group.

Updated at 10.59am BST

10.50am BST

Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock , has condemned the rocket attack on Saturday that killed 12 people at a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

“It is appalling that children and young people who simply wanted to play football were killed,” she wrote in a post on X.

She added in a follow up tweet:

For months, Israeli citizens have been under fire from Hezbollah and other extremists. The perfidious attacks must stop immediately. It is now time to act with cool head. Far too many people have already died in this conflict.

The attack killed 12 children between the ages of 10 and 16 as they were playing football and wounded dozens more.

Updated at 1.18pm BST

10.27am BST

Iran’s supreme leader formally endorsed Masoud Pezeshkian as the country’s president on Sunday, after he won an election this month by pledging a pragmatic foreign policy and easing repression at home (you can read more about Pezeshkian’s background in this profile by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour).

In a ceremony broadcast live on state television, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his approval for Pezeshkian, a relative moderate who will be sworn in on Tuesday,

In a speech afterwards, the supreme leader reiterated Iran’s longstanding anti-Israel stance.

“The Zionist regime (Israel) is not a state, it is a criminal gang, a bank of killers, and a terrorist band,” Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, said in his speech, while praising Hamas for its resistance against Israel in Gaza.

The top authority in regional policy is not the president, but the powerful Revolutionary Guards, who answer only to Khamenei. Pezeshkian is replacing hardline President Ebrahim Raisi , who was killed in a helicopter crash in May .

Updated at 10.35am BST

10.05am BST

We will ensure Hezbollah 'pays a price for this loss', Israeli minister says after deadly strike on football pitch

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant , has said his country mourns for “the innocent boys and girls killed” in the Golan Heights , vowing that the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will pay a “price for this loss”.

He wrote in a post on X:

There are 150,000 Druze in Israel, as well as millions of Jews and Arab Israelis. We live side by side and all suffer from Hezbollah’s terror. We will ensure Hezbollah, the proxy of Iran, pays a price for this loss.

In a visit to the scene of the deadly rocket attack on the football pitch in Majdal Shams, Gallant, who was part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet before it was dissolved last month , told local leaders that the entire country was standing with them.

“The entire state of Israel is with you in this terrible tragedy,” Gallant was quoted by the Times of Israel as telling Dolan Abu Salah, head of the Majdal Shams council. “Hezbollah is responsible for it and they will pay the price,” the defence minister added.

9.42am BST

Where are the Golan Heights and who lives there?

The rocket struck a football pitch in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights , territory captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981, in a move not recognised by most countries.

Majdal Shams is one of four villages in the Golan Heights, where roughly 20,000-25,000 members of the Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic group live. The Druze follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Golan Heights is home to an estimated 50,000 Israeli Jewish settlers. Most Druze there identify as Syrian and many of them have rejected offers of Israeli citizenship.

Male Israeli Druze have to serve in the army. They are the largest non-Jewish group in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Rich in water, the Golan Heights overlooks northern Israel’s Galilee region and the Sea of Galilee, and dominates the route to Damascus on the Syrian-controlled side.

Updated at 1.35pm BST

9.32am BST

Here are some of the latest images coming out of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They were taken after 12 people, including children, were killed in a rocket strike on a football pitch in Majdal Shams:

Updated at 9.35am BST

9.25am BST

US intelligence officials believe Hezbollah carried out attack on Golan Heights but are unsure of the group's intentions - source

US intelligence officials have no doubts that Hezbollah carried out the attack on the Golan Heights, but it was not clear if the Lebanese militant group intended the target or misfired, a source told the Associated Press. The Guardian has not yet verified this claim.

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack but the Iran-backed group - which has regularly targeted Israeli military positions - said it had no connection to the incident.

Updated at 9.48am BST

9.14am BST

After news broke about the deadly strike on the football pitch in the occupied Golan Heights, the office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who was on a visit to the US, said he would cut short his trip by several hours, without specifying when he would return. It said he will convene the security Cabinet after arriving back in Israel. We are expecting this to be early this afternoon (GMT).

“Immediately upon learning of the disaster, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed that his return to Israel be brought forward as quickly as possible,” his office said.

Netanyahu, who is under huge pressure from Israelis to safely bring back hostages still in Gaza, met current US president Joe Biden, vice-president and likely Democratic presidential nominee , Kamala Harris , and former president Donald Trump during his diplomatic trip last week.

A ceasefire has been the subject of negotiations for months. US officials believe the parties are closer than ever before to an agreement for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release by Hamas of women, sick, elderly and injured hostages.

Updated at 9.17am BST

9.03am BST

Escalation of strikes between Israel and Lebanon could engulf region in a 'catastrophe beyond belief', UN warns

The United States, which has been leading diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating the conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border ( but also has been arming Israel ), has condemned it as a horrific attack but did not directly accuse Hezbollah.

The statement from the White House said US support for Israel’s security was iron-clad and that it would “continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority”. The Blue Line refers to the frontier between Lebanon and Israel, which the UN peacekeeping mission, known as Unifil, is responsible for monitoring.

UN special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and Unifil force commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro warned that further intensification of strikes “could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief”. They urged maximum restraint from all sides, adding they were in contact with both Israel and Lebanon.

8.47am BST

Opening summary

It has gone 10:30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv . This is our latest live blog on Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider Middle East crisis .

Israeli warplanes carried out attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon over Saturday night in apparent retaliation for a rocket attack on the Golan Heights that killed 12 people, including children.

“Overnight, the IAF struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon , including weapons caches and terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Chabriha, Borj El Chmali, and Beqaa, Kfarkela, Rab El Thalathine, Khiam, and Tayr Harfa,” the military said.

Israel’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that Hezbollah had “crossed all red lines” with the deadly strike on the football pitch in a remote town in the occupied Golan Heights, which came amid a day-long barrage of rocket fire from Lebanon.

“Saturday’s massacre constitutes the crossing of all red lines by Hezbollah. This is not an army fighting another army, rather it is a terrorist organisation deliberately shooting at civilians,” the ministry said in a statement.

The foreign ministry said “an Iranian rocket” caused the deaths of “our boys and girls”. “Hezbollah is the only terror organisation which has those (rockets) in its arsenal”, it said. “Israel will exercise its right and duty to act in self-defence and will respond to the massacre.”

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu , had earlier vowed that Hezbollah would “pay a hefty price”. Mohammad Afif, a senior Hezbollah official, denied responsibility for the strike that hit Majdal Shams, speaking to Reuters. In a statement, the Iran-backed militant group said it had “absolutely nothing to do with the incident”, accusing hostile media outlets of “false allegations”.

Iran warned Israel on Sunday against what it called any “new adventure” in Lebanon, in a statement issued by foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the “bloodbath” and said there should be “an independent international investigation into this unacceptable incident”.

In other news:

A wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting central and southern Gaza have killed at least 50 and injured an estimated 200 people, with one strike hitting a school where thousands were seeking shelter. Palestinian health ministry officials said that at least 30 people were killed in an airstrike on the Khadija school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in a wave of critical injuries.
The Associated Press reported that people searched the ruined classrooms for remains, combing through the rubble to gather body parts. They added that close to the hospital, where those killed in the strike were taken, their reporters witnessed people fleeing as an ambulance drove in the opposite direction. Inside the ambulance, they said, lay a dead toddler as well as a body shrouded in a blanket.
Hamas issued a statement condemning the Israeli airstrike that killed dozens of people after hitting the school in Deir Al-Balah on Saturday. Hamas said the “massacre at Khadija School is a crime that confirms the Israeli enemy’s estrangement from all human values and its defiance of all laws of war”. Gaza’s civil defence agency said that the school was housing about 4,000 displaced people who had taken refuge there.
The strike in Deir al-Balah was accompanied by further strikes on Khan Younis , after a week of deadly fighting in Gaza’s second city. Strikes in Khan Younis killed at least 23 people since the early morning and injured 89 according to Palestinian health officials, as civilians were forcibly displaced from the city for the fourth day. Gaza’s civil defence agency said that about 170 people had been killed and “hundreds wounded” during an Israeli offensive in the Khan Younis city area over several days.
In Al-Bureij refugee camp, five Palestinians were killed earlier in an Israeli airstrike on a house, while four others were killed in another strike on a house in Rafah , near the border with Egypt, medics said.
Israel’s military ordered residents from more parts of Khan Younis “to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in al-Mawasi – the second such adjustment made to the safe zone within a week. Juliette Touma, the director of communications for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said: “Referring to the orders as evacuation orders don’t do any justice to what this means. These are forced displacement orders. What happens is when people have these orders, they have very little time to move.”
The Khan Younis evacuation orders and “intensified hostilities” have “significantly destabilised aid operations”, the UN said , reporting “dire water, hygiene and sanitation conditions” in the Palestinian territory.
Members of Israel’s rightwing government have hit back at Kamala Harris over her demands for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after she met Benjamin Netanyahu during his US visit. An unnamed Israeli official accused Harris of endangering a potential deal to free Israeli and dual-national hostages in Gaza. “Hopefully the remarks Harris made in her press conference won’t be interpreted by Hamas as daylight between the US and Israel, thereby making a deal harder to secure,” the Israeli media reported the official as saying .
CIA director William Burns will meet this weekend in Rome with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts and Qatar ’s prime minister for talks on a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas , a source has told Reuters. The source said Burns would meet Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and the Egyptian and Israeli intelligence officials on Sunday.