Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to decide on the “manner and timing” of its response to a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers and children and which Israel and the United States blamed on Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has denied responsibility for Saturday’s attack on Majdal Shams, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-occupied territory since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a war in Gaza on October 7. The conflict has spread to multiple fronts and risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict.
Israel has vowed to retaliate against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israeli jets attacked targets in southern Lebanon earlier in the day on Sunday.
But it was expected that a more severe response could follow a security cabinet meeting called by Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
After the meeting ended, Netanyahu’s office said the Cabinet had “authorized the prime minister and defense minister to decide on the method and timing of the response.”
The White House also blamed Hezbollah for the Majdal Shams attack on Sunday. “The attack was carried out by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket and launched from an area under their control,” the statement said.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said through her national security adviser that her “support for Israel’s security is unwavering.”
The United States said Washington had been in discussions with its Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since Saturday’s “horrific” attack and was working on a diplomatic solution.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington did not want to further escalate the conflict, which sees daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah along the border.
Britain expressed concern about further escalation, while Egypt said the attack could escalate into “a wider regional war”.
On the ground, thousands gathered for the funeral in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, the region seized from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed by Israel with no recognition by most countries.
People of the Druze religion, a mix of Islam, Christianity and Judaism, make up more than half of the Golan Heights’ 40,000 population. Large crowds of mourners, many wearing traditional white and red Druze headwear, surrounded the coffins as they were carried through the village.
“A huge tragedy, a dark day, has come for Majdal Shams,” Dolan Abu Saleh, head of the Majdal Shams local council, said in comments broadcast on Israeli television.
Hezbollah initially announced that it had fired rockets at Israeli military targets in the Golan Heights, but said it had “absolutely nothing to do” with the attack on Majdal Shams.
Israel said the rocket was made in Iran
However, Israel said the rocket was an Iranian-made missile fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, and blamed the attack directly on Iran-backed Hezbollah.
It was not immediately clear whether the children and teenagers killed were Israeli citizens.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said, “The rocket that killed our boys and girls was an Iranian rocket and Hezbollah is the only terrorist organization that has these rockets.”
Hezbollah is on high alert and has evacuated some key sites in Lebanon’s south and eastern Bekaa Valley in case of an Israeli attack, two security sources told Reuters.
Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines said it was delaying the arrival of some flights from Sunday night to Monday morning, though it did not give a reason.
Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon for months, but both sides appear to be avoiding a situation that could spark a full-blown war that would potentially involve other powers including the United States and Iran.
However, Saturday’s attack threatens to make the standoff even more dangerous. UN officials urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and warned that if the standoff escalates “the entire region could be hit by an incredible catastrophe.”
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib told Reuters that Lebanon has urged the US to call on Israel to exercise restraint. Bou Habib said the US has also asked the Lebanese government to send a message of restraint to Hezbollah.
fear of full-blown war
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday warned Israel against any new moves in Lebanon.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it held Israel “fully responsible for this dangerous escalation in the region” and said its accusations against Hezbollah were false.
The conflict has forced thousands of people to flee their homes in both Lebanon and Israel. Israeli strikes have killed about 350 Hezbollah fighters and more than 100 civilians in Lebanon, including doctors, children and journalists.
Hezbollah is the most powerful in a network of Iran-backed groups in the Middle East and opened a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
Druze communities live on both sides of the line between southern Lebanon and northern Israel, as well as in the Golan Heights and Syria. While some serve in the Israeli military and identify with Israel, many feel marginalized in Israel and some even reject Israeli citizenship.