![TOPSHOT - Local residents comfort each other as they gather at a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. Israel's emergency medical service Magen David Adom said at least nine people were killed and 34 wounded including 17 in critical condition, after a rocket fired from Lebanon had hit the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP) (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)](https://freeamericanetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/12-israeli-children-killed-in-rocket-strike-u-s-and-idf-maintains-hezbollah-is-responsible.webp)
OAN Staff Blake Wolf
3:31 PM – Monday, July 29, 2024
On Saturday, twelve Israeli children were killed by a rocket strike from southern Lebanon into the Israeli city of Majdal Shams while playing soccer on a field.
Although Iran’s proxy terrorist organization Hezbollah claims that they did not fire the rocket, the IDF and U.S. intelligence officials have maintained that the terrorist group did in fact launch the lethal projectile.
“Every indication is that indeed the rocket was from Hezbollah,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The IDF has also published a photo of the alleged flight path the rocket took, tracking it from southern Lebanon to the city of Majdal Shams in Israel.
In addition, the IDF says that the rocket was an Iranian-made Falaq-1 missile equipped with over 110 pounds of explosives.
In its retaliatory efforts, Israel then fired back its own rockets, which were aimed at Hezbollah’s infrastructure and weapons cache.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials, like Blinken, have continued to stress the importance of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
“One of the reasons that we’re continuing to work so hard for a ceasefire in Gaza is not just for Gaza but also so that we can [advance] an opportunity to bring calm, lasting calm, across the blue line between Israel and Lebanon. We’re determined to bring the Gaza conflict to a close. It’s gone on for far too long. It’s cost far too many lives,” Blinken said.
“It’s so important that we help defuse that conflict, not only prevent it from escalating, prevent it from spreading, but to defuse it because so many people in both countries, in both Israel and Lebanon, who’ve been displaced from their homes,” he continued.
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