Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the strike. (File)
Majdal Shams:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the site of a deadly attack on the annexed Golan Heights on Monday, vowed that Israel would give a “serious response” to the rocket fire that killed 12 children.
“Like all Israeli citizens, and I must say, like many around the world, we were deeply shocked by this heinous murder,” Netanyahu said at the scene of the attack, according to a statement from his office.
“These children are our children… The State of Israel cannot and will not let this pass. Our response will come and it will be severe.”
Dozens of residents of Majdal Shams protested Netanyahu’s visit, which came after the last victim was buried on Monday, while hundreds of Druze men and women gathered for the funeral, an AFP journalist reported.
Many residents of Majdal Shams have not accepted Israeli nationality since Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967.
The 12 children aged between 10 and 16 were killed on Saturday when a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a football field in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams where they were playing.
The Israeli military said they were hit by an Iranian-made missile carrying a 50-kilogram nuclear warhead, adding that it was fired by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, which has regularly exchanged cross-border fire with Israeli forces since the start of the Gaza war in early October, has denied responsibility for the attack, although it claimed multiple attacks on Israeli military positions that day.
Hezbollah says its actions against Israeli forces support Palestinians in Gaza and its ally, the Hamas group.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
