Israel weighs its response to deadly Golan Heights rocket attack as US urges calm

The U.S. and other world powers sought to prevent Israel and Hezbollah’s conflict turning into a full-blown war after a rocket attack that killed a dozen young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met security officials for several hours late Sunday to decide on the type and timing of Israel’s response to Saturday’s strike, which killed 12 Druze civilians at a football field and risked triggering the all-out conflict with Hezbollah that’s been feared for months.

“We were shocked to the core by this terrible carnage,” Netanyahu said on Monday while visiting the site of the attack, the town of Majdal Shams. “The State of Israel won’t and can’t let this go by. Our response will yet come, and it will be harsh.”

Yet while other Israeli officials also said the military will react forcefully, it didn’t launch major strikes on Lebanon overnight and there are signs Netanyahu wants to allow talks for a cease-fire with Hamas in Gaza to progress.

Several Israeli news outlets reported the government was seeking a “limited but significant” action that sends a strong message to Hezbollah but ensures the situation doesn’t spiral out of control. So far, Israel’s military has not called up extra reservists or put the north of the country on an increased state of alert.

Israel says it has clear evidence the rocket that hit Majdal Shams was fired by Hezbollah, something the group denies. The U.S. backed Israel, saying the Shiite group was probably responsible, while also urging calm.

There’s “no justification for terrorism,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “We also don’t want to see the conflict escalate.”

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said he “strongly condemns this bloodbath” and called on “all parties to exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation.”

The shekel weakened almost 2% to 3.73 per dollar as of 4:20 p.m. in Tel Aviv. Israeli stocks sunk 2.3% on Sunday, the most since late October, though they pared some losses on Monday.

Several airlines have suspended flights to Lebanon’s main international airport in Beirut. Lufthansa, along with its subsidiaries Swiss International and Eurowings, will halt services until Aug. 6, while Greece’s Aegean Airlines has canceled some flights. Germany called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave quickly.

Netanyahu sent the head of Mossad, Israel’s external-intelligence agency, to Rome on Sunday to speak with mediators in the Israel-Hamas war, including Qatar and the U.S. The prime minister said “negotiations on the main issues will continue in the coming days.”

Hamas issued a statement on Monday accusing Netanyahu of stalling and setting new conditions that were “a step back” from what mediators had previously presented to it.

The talks have stumbled in recent weeks over Hamas’ demand that the war in Gaza ends once there’s a truce. Israel says that if Hamas doesn’t surrender, it wants to be able to resume fighting to ensure the Iran-backed group is destroyed.

Israel and Hezbollah, a militant group and political party also supported by Tehran, have exchanged fire almost every day since the war with Hamas erupted in October. Those skirmishes had mostly targeted military sites. Saturday’s strike was by far the deadliest on civilians south of the Lebanese border.

Netanyahu returned from a U.S. visit on Sunday in which he sought to drum up support for what he describes as a showdown between Israel and Iran, including its proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Israel and Iran exchanged direct fire in April. Netanyahu’s government responded to an unprecedented attack from Tehran — almost all of whose missiles and drones were intercepted and didn’t cause significant damage — with a limited airstrike on an Iranian air base. That followed efforts by the Group of Seven to restrain Israel’s response and prevent a regional war.

Hezbollah threat

Hezbollah says it’s acting in solidarity with Hamas and Palestinians, and will stop firing on Israel if there’s a cease-fire in Gaza. Yet it hasn’t said it will move fighters back from the Lebanon-Israel border, which Netanyahu’s government is demanding because it fears an Oct. 7-style incursion from the group.

Israel says it can’t compromise with enemies sworn to its destruction. But domestic pressure for the recovery of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza is growing, while the Israel Defense Forces, which leans heavily on conscripts and reservists, is stretched after almost 10 months of fighting in the Palestinian territory.

“There must be a retaliation,” said Amos Yadlin, a retired air force general and former chief of military intelligence. “But that doesn’t mean it has to take place when anticipated. There’s nothing wrong with keeping Hezbollah in a state of alert for days or even weeks.”

Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage when it swarmed into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7. More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its retaliation, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

The Lebanese group is far stronger than Hamas was before October, with more fighters, missiles and drones at its disposal. A full-on conflict would probably be devastating for both Lebanon and Israel, officials from both countries have warned.

Some 40,000 people live in the Israeli—occupied Golan. More than half are Druze, an Arab group who practice an offshoot of Islam.

The Golan Heights were part of Syria until 1967, when Israel captured most of the area in the Six Day War. Israel’s annexation in the 1980s was not recognized by most countries, and Syria demands the return of the territory. The U.S. recognized Israeli sovereignty under Donald Trump’s administration in 2019.

Hezbollah has targeted Israel’s north and the Golan with more than 6,000 rockets and 300 drones since October. Israel has retaliated with attacks, mostly on southern Lebanon.

Until Saturday, about 20 people in Israel had been killed by Hezbollah assaults, most of them soldiers. More than 300 people have died due to Israeli strikes, the majority being Hezbollah members.

Roughly 80,000 people in northern Israel and the same number in southern Lebanon have had to evacuate their homes.