Thousands of people gathered in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday for the funerals of children and teenagers killed in a rocket attack, as world leaders tried to contain the political fallout from the attack.
Members of the Druze community wept as they carried coffins through Majdal Shams, while some shouted angrily at government ministers, Israeli media reported.
Meanwhile, Israel has blamed the attack on the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The White House also accused the group for the strike which killed 12 people. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack.
World leaders condemned the attack on Sunday and moved to ease tensions, fearing it could trigger a war between Israel and Hezbollah.
In response to Saturday’s attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) overnight targeted Hezbollah in Lebanese territory, and Hezbollah struck two Israeli military bases on Sunday.
The cross-border firefight between the two sides has escalated since Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli targets a day after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The Hamas attack triggered Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Hezbollah says it is acting in support of the Palestinians.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest in and around Israel’s northern border since October.
The strike hit a soccer field in Majdal Shams, one of four towns in the Golan Heights, home to about 25,000 Arabic-speaking Druze religious and ethnic groups.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said 10 of the 12 victims were between 10 and 16 years old, but we’re silent on the ages of the other two victims.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed that Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price,” arrived in Israel on Sunday after cutting short a trip to the United States. He planned to meet with his military leaders to assess the situation and approve plans of action.
Hezbollah denied involvement in the attack but had claimed responsibility for four other attacks earlier on Saturday, including one on a military base about 3 kilometers away.
Ten white-covered coffins were carried through crowded streets by weeping men wearing traditional red-tipped white hats at a funeral in Majdal Shams on Sunday, AFP reported. Women dressed in black abayas wept as they placed flowers on coffins. Some mourners carried large photographs of the dead children.
Fadi Mahmud, 48, told AFP that Majdal Shams experienced such casualties for the first time during the war.
“Our community is very close-knit. These children are like the children of everybody in the village,” he was reported as saying.
Community anger also boiled over at the funeral, with some directing their anger at Israeli government officials in attendance, the Times of Israel reported.
“Now you come here? Ten months you didn’t come!” a man dressed in a military uniform reportedly shouted at Housing Minister Nir Barkat and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman.His comments received applause.
“We’re tired of your promises!” another person reportedly yelled at Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
In a video posted on social media, the hecklers surrounded Smotrich, cursing and saying “we don’t want him!”, according to the Times of Israel translation.
Israeli media reported that the leader of the Druze community requested in a letter that government ministers not attend the funeral to prevent the tragedy from becoming a “political event”.
The Druze are part of an Arabic-speaking ethnic group located in Lebanon, Syria, the Golan Heights and northern Israel. In Israel, they have full citizenship rights and make up about 1.5 percent of the population.
But most Golan residents maintained allegiance to Syria. They can still study and work in Israel, but only those with citizenship can vote and serve in the military.
Israel’s annexation of Syria’s Golan in 1981 is not recognized by most of the international community.
World leaders on Sunday condemned the strike and warned of escalation, although they disagreed on who was responsible.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a message on X that the UK “condemns the strike in Golan Heights that has tragically claimed at least 12 lives” and that Hezbollah “must cease their attacks”.
“We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilization,” said Secretary Lammy.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington supports Israel’s right to defend itself, adding that “we also don’t want to see the conflict escalate”.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib told the BBC he did not believe Hezbollah carried out the attack, but added that “it could be a mistake by the Israelis or by Hezbollah – I don’t know.”
In a statement, the Lebanese government condemned the violence and called for a ceasefire on all fronts.
Source: BBC News
