The rocket launch of a soccer field in Golan Heights and the Israeli-Israel military exchange of fire has provoked tensions between Lebanon and Israel

A rocket hit a sports complex filled with children playing soccer in Israel’s control of the Golan Heights region on the same day as an Israeli strike in Gaza devastated a school building and killed dozens of people.

The strike on an Israeli target raised fears of a wider conflagration in the region, since the fighting between the two foes erupted in October.

“The Hezbollah terrorist organization is behind the rocket launch at a soccer field in Majdal Shams which caused multiple civilian casualties, including children, earlier this evening,” the statement said.

11 people were wounded, nine of them critically, and all of them were between the ages of 10 and 20. Kan aired a video of people being rushed to ambulances from a soccer field in Majdal Shams.

“These were kids at a soccer field,” Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the local council, told Israeli Channel 12. He called for Israeli leaders to begin targeting Hezbollah commanders after a red line was crossed.

The Israeli military said one projectile was identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area, adding it was cooperating with the MDA to evacuate the wounded. A TV station aired footage of a blast in a valley.

Over the course of the last few months, Hezbollah and the Israel military have engaged in a series of exchanges of fire across the borders of Lebanon and Israel.

Israel’s response to the Gaza air strike: “The hardest attack on Israel is coming on Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters in Gaza

Thirty people were killed and more than 100 were wounded when a school used to house displaced Palestinians was shattered in an airstrike in central Gaza. Many of the dead were children, stated the Gazan Health Ministry.

The school was located in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, where many Palestinians have fled following evacuation orders the Israeli military has issued for regions farther south in Gaza.

Blood was everywhere in the minutes that followed the strike, with pieces of flesh visible on the stairs and handicapped residents trying to flee, according to NPR reporter Anas Baba, who witnessed the immediate aftermath.

Video captured by Baba shows bodies of children who had been wounded being carried away on donkey carts. In nearby hospitals, Baba found hallways lined with bodies, several of them clearly very young children.

The crowded school complex had around 4,000 people sheltering there, and according to Gazan health authorities part of the targeted site was also being used as a field hospital. The strike didn’t cause a warning to be given to those inside.

Israel had given fresh orders to leave southern Gaza as the Israeli military said it would respond to rocket fire from Hamas.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said it was the deadliest single attack on an Israeli target since Oct. 7, the date of the Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the current war in Gaza.

The incident has prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was briefed on the situation while in Washington, D.C., to return to Israel from the U.S. earlier than planned. He will convene a cabinet meeting of his top political allies and security officials upon his return.

In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu said the entire nation of Israel embraced the children’s families and “the entire Druze community in its difficult hour, which is also our difficult hour.”

Despite a public message from Hezbollah, which denied any involvement in the incident, Netanyahu warned the State of Israel will not tolerate it. We will not overlook this.”

Hezbollah’s denial of its involvement confirmed its commitment to avoiding violence against civilians and proved Lebanon was not responsible, according to the parliamentary speaker of Lebanon.

The targeting of civilians is a violation of international law, and the government of Lebanon condemns all attacks against civilians.