Netanyahu returns home early from US after rocket strike kills 10 young Israelis

A rocket attack Saturday on a soccer field in Majdal Shams was described by officials as ‘the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7th’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making an early return home from the US following a deadly missile attack that killed 10 young Israeli citizens and injured more than 20 others.

A rocket attack Saturday on a soccer field in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, was described by officials as “the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7th.”

The strike, the largest on an Israeli target since the Gaza war erupted in October, raised fears of a broader conflagration in the region.

Netenyahu, who addressed Congress earlier this week and held separate talks with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and fomer president Donald Trump, directed that his return to Israel be brought forward as soon as possible after learning of the attack, according to his office.

Israel has blamed militant group Hezbollah for the attack on the soccer field. The group said it struck a military base in the Golan Heights in retaliation for Israeli attacks on a village in Lebanon, but “categorically denied” involvement in the deaths in Majdal Shams, according to The Associated Press.

Israeli police officers and firefighters work at the site of a rocket attack in Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights (AP)

Hezbollah said in a statement that its militants firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli army post in the Golan Heights was in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in south Lebanon. The group said earlier three of its members were killed on Saturday without specifying where.

Israel’s military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot on the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside at the time.

IDF chief spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari asserted to journalists that “Hezbollah is lying.” He said all 10 people killed were aged 10 to 20 and that more than 20 other people were wounded during the strike.

“This is the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7th,” Hagari said.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that according to intelligence in its possession, “the rocket launch toward Majdal Shams was carried out by the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”

Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds (REUTERS)

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization is behind the rocket launch at a soccer field in Majdal Shams which caused multiple civilian casualties, including children, earlier this evening,” the statement said.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded near daily fire since the war in Gaza started after Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7, which killed some 1,200 people. Over 250 other people were taken hostage.

Israel subsequently launched an offensive that has so far killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities, displaced over 80 per cent of the territory’s people and triggered a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Over the past weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border intensified with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah striking deeper and further away from the border.

Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed before Saturday.

Netanyahu also met with Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, during his trip to the US (AP)

On Saturday, Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service initially reported 11 people wounded, nine critically, and all between the ages of 10 and 20. Israeli Public Broadcaster Kan aired footage of some being rushed to ambulances on stretchers from a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams.

“These were kids at a soccer field,” Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the local council, told Israeli Channel 12. “Today a red line was crossed,” he said, urging Israeli leaders to start targeting top Hezbollah commanders.

The Israeli military said one projectile was identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area, adding it was cooperating with the MDA to evacuate the wounded. Channel 12 aired footage of a large blast in one of the town’s valleys.