World leaders have warned Israel against attacks on Lebanon as it plans “retaliatory” action after a rocket strike in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 teenagers and children.
The strike which hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams on Saturday evening was blamed on Hezbollah by both Israel and the US, though the group denied responsibility.
Israel has vowed retaliation against Hezbollah in Lebanon.Israel's security cabinet on Sunday authorised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to decide on the "manner and timing" of a response to the strike, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Palestinian militant group Hamas' October 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza.
Israeli jets hit targets in southern Lebanon during the day on Sunday, but there were expectations a stronger response could follow the security cabinet meeting convened by Mr Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Sunday condemned the strike in Golan Heights, adding: “We are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation.
“We have been clear Hizballah must cease their attacks.”
Egypt said it feared the attack could spill "into a comprehensive regional war".
Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Mr Netanyahu on Sunday, the French presidency said in a statement, in a bid to prevent a broader escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
The presidency said Mr Macron had reminded Mr Netanyahu that France was fully committed to doing "everything to avoid a new escalation in the region by passing messages to all parties involved in the conflict".
The White House on Sunday also blamed Hezbollah for Saturday’s strike, saying in a statement: "This attack was conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket, and launched from an area they control.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Washington did not want further escalation of the conflict, which has seen daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah along the border.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said through her national security adviser that her "support for Israel’s security is ironclad.”
The US said Washington has been in discussions with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since Saturday's "horrific" attack, and was working on a diplomatic solution.
On the ground, thousands of people gathered on Sunday for funerals in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, territory captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognised by most countries.
Members of the Druze faith, which is related to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, make up more than half of the 40,000-strong population of the Golan Heights.
Hezbollah initially announced it fired rockets at Israeli military sites in the Golan Heights, but said it had "absolutely nothing" to do with the attack on Majdal Shams.
However, Israel said the rocket was an Iranian-made missile fired from an area north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon, placing the blame squarely on Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
It was not immediately clear if the children and teenagers killed were Israeli citizens.
"The rocket that murdered our boys and girls was an Iranian rocket and Hezbollah is the only terror organization which has those in its arsenal," Israel's foreign ministry said.
Iran's foreign ministry warned Israel on Sunday against what it called any new adventure 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 tens of thousands of people in both Lebanon and Israel to leave their homes. Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians, including medics, children and journalists.
Hezbollah is the most powerful of a network of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East and opened a second front against Israel shortly after Hamas' October 7 assault on Israel.
