At least nine children and teenagers were killed in shelling of the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, and more than 30 people were wounded. This was announced by an adviser in the office of the Prime Minister of Israel Dmitry Gendelman.
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“Children playing in the playground in the city of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights were hit by a rocket fired by Hezbollah. So far, 9 Israeli children and teenagers have been killed and more than 30 injured,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.
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Israel blames the incident in the Druze village on the Golan and is preparing a “very tough response,” Gendelman said.
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“This is a serious escalation, an aggression by the terrorist organization Hezbollah, and Israel’s response will be very harsh – we will take all necessary measures to restore security on the northern border. Lebanon and the terrorist organization Hezbollah, operating under the leadership of Iran, are responsible for the aggression and its consequences,” he wrote. “This is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701,” Gendelman added.
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Hezbollah, in turn, claims that it is not involved in the rocket launch at the village of Majdal Shams.
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The Israeli army said its initial investigation indicates that the rocket that hit the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights was fired by militias from the Shiite Hezbollah organization.
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“According to the IDF’s assessment of the situation and the intelligence available to us, the rocket launched in the direction of Majdal Shams was carried out by the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the army press service said in a statement.
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The village is located in the Golan Heights near the demarcation line between Israel and Syria and has been under Israeli control since the 1967 Six-Day War. The majority of the population there are Druze – a separate Arabic-speaking ethno-confessional group. It is the largest of four Druze settlements in the Israeli-controlled Golan.
