Parents, others gather for funeral of children killed in Hezbollah attack

Thousands of mourners gathered for the funerals of at least 12 children killed by a Hezbollah rocket attack on a football field in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams, located in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights.

The Israeli military reported that the children, aged between 10 and 16, were struck on Saturday by an Iranian-made rocket fired by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

Local authorities confirmed the deaths and noted that 20 more individuals were wounded, with several in critical condition.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning that Hezbollah ‘will pay a heavy price, one that it has not paid so far’, according to his office, while IDF chief Herzi Halevi said the attack ‘will result in a very, very significant reaction’.

Hezbollah chief spokesman Mohammed Afif said that the group ‘categorically denies carrying out an attack on Majdal Shams’ – an outright denial of an attack that is unusual for the group.

Footage from the funeral processions today showed weeping men carrying small coffins through the crowded narrow streets of the town, which came to a standstill as residents were mourning the children.

The Druze follow an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Hundreds of men dressed in traditional attire, including white caps topped with red, attended the ceremonies, while others lined balconies to look down on the procession of white-covered caskets with white roses and gypsophila resting on top.

Under a scorching sun, some mourners carried large photos of the dead children, including one boy wearing a suit.

Earlier, several women dressed in black abaya robes cried as they laid flowers on the caskets, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.

Our community is very close-knit. These children are like children of everybody in the village,’ he said.

Checkpoints have been set up at the entrance to every village in the Golan.

Israel’s military called Saturday’s rocket strike a ‘very serious’ incident with their military chief spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, describing it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attack on October 7 that triggered the war in Gaza.

‘There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that,’ Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12. ‘We are nearing the moment in which we face an all-out war.’

Credit: Daily Mail