MAGDALA, Israel — Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said Saturday that Israel faces “all-out war” after a rocket fired by Hezbollah at the Israeli Druze Arab village of Majdal Shams killed at least twelve people, including children, on Saturday evening.
Children from ages ten to twelve were playing a soccer game when the rocket hit the field. According to an eyewitness interviewed by Israel’s Channel 13, a warning siren only sounded as the impact happened.
The Times of Israel reported initially that at least six people were killed, and 30 wounded, by the rocket attack. Israel’s channel 12 reported that nine had been killed. The number continued to climb throughout the night.
Katz said that a long-awaited war might be inevitable after the horrific attack on a civilian target. The Times of Israel reported:
“There is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all red lines,” Katz tells Channel 12 news. “We are facing an all-out war.”
“I have no doubt that we’ll pay a cost,” he adds, but insists Israel will exact an even higher cost from Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the U.S., was briefed on the attack. He cut short his trip to return to Israel, breaking the Jewish Sabbath to do so, as is permitted in matters of life and death.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said:
From the analysis of the IDF’s operational systems, the rocket launch at the center of Majdal Shams was carried out from an area located north of the village of Chebaa in southern Lebanon.
According to reliable intelligence information in the possession of the IDF, Hezbollah is behind the attack.
Hezbollah appeared to distance itself from the attack, partly because the victims were children, and also because there is a Druze population in southern Lebanon capable of rising up against Hezbollah if sufficiently provoked.
Earlier, as Breitbart News reported, Hezbollah launched large barrages of rockets at Israel’s northern region. Fires were seen near the Church of the Beatitudes, further south, though it was unclear if there was a connection.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
This post has been updated.
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