Israel vows retaliation after rocket kills 12 youths in Golan Heights

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday (Jul 28) vowed to "hit the enemy hard" after rocket fire from Lebanon killed 12 young people in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and again raised fears that the war in Gaza will spread.

Iran warned Israel any new military "adventures" in Lebanon could lead to "unforeseen consequences". UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the rocket fire and called on all parties to "exercise maximum restraint".

Israel's army called it "the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians" since the Oct 7 attack that began the war in Gaza and triggered regular exchanges of fire across the Lebanese border.

Israel blamed Lebanon's Hezbollah movement for firing a Falaq-1 Iranian rocket but the Iran-backed group - which has regularly targeted Israeli military positions - said it had "no connection" to the incident.

After the meeting, his office said: "The members of the cabinet authorised the prime minister and the defence minister to decide on the manner and timing of the response against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation." It offered no further details.

The Israeli foreign ministry said Hezbollah had "crossed all red lines".

TEARFUL FAREWELL
In expectation of Israel's retaliation, Hezbollah evacuated several positions close to the border and in eastern Lebanon, a source close to the group said.

Israel's military said later on Sunday it had hit Hezbollah targets "both deep inside Lebanese territory and in southern Lebanon".

An Israeli drone fired two missiles at Taraiyya village in eastern Lebanon, destroying a hangar and a home without causing casualties, a Lebanese security source told AFP.

Hezbollah has said its cross-border fire is an act of support for Palestinian Islamists from Hamas who have been fighting Israel's military in Gaza since Oct 7 when they attacked southern Israel.

That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,324 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.

In Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis on Sunday, the civil defence agency reported five killed in an Israeli strike that hit several tents housing displaced Palestinians in a humanitarian zone.

Israel's military ordered the evacuation of several blocks of Al-Bureij and Al-Shuhada in central Gaza, warning that it would "operate forcefully" there.

Separately, Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on social media site X that only "14 per cent of areas in Gaza" were not subject to evacuation orders.

He accused Israel of creating "havoc and panic" with frequent evacuation orders.

"CATASTROPHE BEYOND BELIEF"
The rocket strike on Majdal Shams hit a football pitch and killed children who local authorities said were aged 10 to 16. Israeli police said an 11-year-old boy was still missing. Thousands of residents crowded the town's streets in a tearful funeral ceremony for many of the dead.

According to Riad Kahwaji, head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, the position Hezbollah said it targeted is about 2.4km from the town, putting it "within margin of error" of the inaccurate rockets.

But the "the possibility of a misfire" from an Israeli air defence missile could not be ruled out and there should be an independent investigation, he added.

The rocket fire on Majdal Shams came after an Israeli strike killed four Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon, prompting the militant group to announce a flurry of retaliatory rocket attacks against the Golan and northern Israel.

The White House said the rocket launch was "conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah", adding that "it was their rocket and launched from an area they control".

The UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) chief Aroldo Lazaro said in a joint statement that intensifying exchanges of fire "could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief".

Lebanon urged "an immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts", later calling for an "international investigation" into the strike.