Israeli-Hezbollah air strikes hit a soccer field and killed at least 10 people, and wounded at a school in the Golan Heights

At least 10 people are dead and many others are wounded after a rocket attack on a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

The strike was the most serious attack on Israel since the fighting began and raised concerns that there may be more to come.

Hezbollah said in a statement that its militants firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli army post in the Golan Heights was in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in south Lebanon. The group said three people were killed on Saturday, but didn’t specify where. The air force bombed a Hezbollah arms depot in the border town of Kfar Kila, the military said, noting that people were inside at the time.

All of the people wounded and critically injured were less than the age of 10, as reported by the Magen David Adom paramedic service. In Majdal Shams, the public broadcaster Kan broadcasted footage from a soccer field where people were taken to the hospital on stretchers.

“These were kids at a soccer field,” Beni Ben Muvchar, head of the local council, told Israeli Channel 12. He urged Israeli leaders to start targeting Hezbollah commanders, as a red line had been 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. Channel 12 aired footage of a large blast in one of the town’s valleys.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire near daily. According to the local health authority, Israel launched an offensive that has left more than 39,000 people dead and led to the displacement of over 80% of the people in the territory.

A school used to shelter displaced Palestinians was shattered by an air strike on Saturday, killing 30 and wounding more than 100. The Gazan Health Ministry said many of the dead were children.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Hamas-Leading Attack on Israel During the September 11, 2015, Gaza, Interaction with Human Rights Defenders

Anas Baba, an NPR reporter, witnessed the aftermath of the strike and reported that there were pieces of flesh visible on the stairs and handicapped residents trying to flee.

The wounded children were carried away on carts with stretchers made from pieces of debris. The hallways in the nearby hospitals were lined with the bodies of 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. No warning of the strike was given to those inside.

More than two million people live in Gaza and the United Nations estimates more than 80% of them are under a similar order to leave.

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 family and the entire Druze community.

Despite a public message from Hezbollah in which it categorically denied involvement, saying the group had “absolutely nothing to do with the incident,” Netanyahu warned in his office statement that, “the State of Israel will not let this pass in silence. We will not overlook this.”

The parliamentary speaker of Lebanon claimed that Hezbollah’s denial of its involvement confirmed its commitment to avoiding violence against civilians.

In a statement, the Lebanon government said that it condemned all acts of violence and attacks against all civilians.