Shell holes where an artillery shell struck a playground in Majdal Shams in the annexed Golan Heights on Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces blamed Hezbollah and vowed to retaliate. Photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE
July 29 (UPI) — Israel’s security cabinet has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister the authority to decide “how and when” to retaliate for deadly weekend attacks on the occupied Golan Heights, as world leaders urge calm amid growing fears of an escalating war.
At least a dozen young people were killed and more than two dozen injured when a direct hit hit a football field in the Israeli-occupied Majdal Shams neighborhood on Saturday.
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Hezbollah denies it was behind the attack but the Israel Defense Forces are adamant that Iranian proxy militias were responsible, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed to pay reparations for the attack.
A meeting of Israel’s security cabinet convened on Sunday, and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office announced that ministers had given the prime minister and Gallant the authority to decide on the country’s response.
As the meeting opened, world leaders condemned the attack and called for de-escalation, fearing that retaliatory strikes could lead to an escalation of the war from Israel.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Sunday during a visit to Tokyo for talks with Japan’s foreign minister that the Biden administration maintains that Israel has the right to defend itself but does not want the conflict to escalate.
“We don’t want to see the infection spread,” he said. “That’s been one of our goals from day one.”
The Biden administration has been walking a delicate balance between supporting its allies and responding to provocations as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on for nearly 300 days, while also trying to prevent it from spreading across the region.
Israel launched a war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip following a surprise and bloody attack on Israel by Iranian proxy militias on October 7. Hezbollah has been attacking Israel across the Lebanese border since October 8.
A third Iranian proxy militia, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, have been involved in the war since they imposed a military blockade of the Red Sea in mid-November, attacking all shipping, including U.S. warships.
With the death toll in Gaza rising to the tens of thousands and the war continuing with no end in sight, the Biden administration has grown frustrated with Israel’s approach to the war and has been calling for months for both sides to accept a three-phase U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement.
Blinken said Sunday that this was the “best way” to prevent an escalation of tensions.
National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson said in a statement that Saturday’s attack was blamed on Hezbollah but that Biden administration officials were in talks with Israeli and Lebanese officials about a ceasefire.
The United Nations also condemned the attack and called for “maximum restraint.”
A statement issued on behalf of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said he “consistently calls on all parties involved to avoid further escalation.”
“The firing across the Blue Line must stop immediately,” Guterres said. “All parties must abide by their obligations under international law. The parties must urgently recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities.”
The Blue Line separates Israel from Lebanon and the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.
In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, extending its sovereignty over the area, which the UN Security Council condemned and called on Israel to “immediately revoke its decision.”
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide also called for de-escalation, saying this could “lead to a major war on Israel’s northern front”.
France similarly expressed condolences to the victims but called for calm.
“France calls for all measures to be taken to avoid a new military escalation and will continue to cooperate with the parties to this end,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces said they struck a series of Hezbollah targets on Lebanese soil late on Sunday night.
