Thousands Mourn 11 Killed in Missile Attack on Golan’s Majdal Shams
(AWP) - Thousands in the Golan Heights’ Majdal Shams region paid their last respects to 11 young boys and girls killed when a missile landed in a soccer pitch on Saturday.
Israel accused Hezbollah of having fired the missile from Lebanon while the Lebanese group denied responsibility for the attack.
Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on Sunday that the army was enhancing readiness “for the next stage in the fighting in northern Israel” after a rocket landed on Majdal Shams.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee quoted Halevi, who toured the attack site, as saying, “We are increasing our readiness for the next stage of the fighting in the north, as we are simultaneously fighting in Gaza. We know how to attack even very far from the State of Israel. There will be more challenges, we will raise our readiness. When required we will act strongly.”
“We know exactly where the rocket was launched from. We examined here on the wall of the soccer field the remains of the rocket, and we know to say that it is a Falaq rocket with a fifty-three-kilogram warhead.
“This is a Hezbollah rocket. And whoever fires such a rocket into an urban area wants to kill civilians, wants to kill children,” Halevi says in a video statement from the scene.
Israeli newspaper the Times of Israel said bodies of 11 out of a total 12 killed in the attack on Majdal Shams have been carried to their final resting place.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday approved a military operation against Hezbollah and gave instructions for carrying it out in the aftermath of the missile attack on Majdal Shams, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
Daily exchange of fire across the borders has been lately mounting between the Israeli army and Lebanese group Hezbollah, which erupted after Israel waged its war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.