12 children killed in Hezbollah terror attack
12 children were killed and over 40 injured on Saturday when a Hezbollah rocket struck a football pitch in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Golan Heights.
The missile was an Iranian-manufactured Falaq-1 rocket with a 10 kilometre range and a warhead of over 50 kilograms of explosives, fired from the Chebaa area in southern Lebanon, according to the IDF.
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the rocket is “only in use by the Hezbollah terror group”.
Hezbollah initially stated that they fired towards an Israeli army base near Majdal Shams on Saturday, before denying responsibility for the attack.
The United States supported Israel’s analysis, stating: “This attack was conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah. It was their rocket, and launched from an area they control”.
Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “This is Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy in the region. Hezbollah will not go unpunished for this incident, even with its ridiculous denials”.
The head of the Majdal Shams local council called the incident “a heavy tragedy”, adding that a “dark day has come to Majdal Shams”.
10 of the twelve children were buried in Israel yesterday with thousands attending their funerals.
Last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened Israel’s Cabinet to discuss the Israeli response.
The four-hour meeting reportedly identified the scale and timing of Israel’s response, together with the status of ongoing hostage talks with the Hamas terror group.
The Israeli Air Force targeted Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Sunday night into Monday, disconnected from Israel’s response to Saturday’s attack. Hezbollah operatives Abbas Hijazi and Abbas Salami were killed in the strike.
In preparation for an Israeli response, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that Iranian and Hezbollah-affiliated groups have “evacuated their positions” south of Beirut and in south-east Syria amid the possibility of IDF action. General Secretary of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has reportedly approved further war plans against Israel, with Iran threatening that an Israeli response will be met with the same “depth of Hezbollah’s response”.
Hamas sends hostage torture video, Mia Regev recalls pain she endured
Hamas has allegedly sent a video of Israeli hostages being tortured in Gaza to Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The Telegraph reports that the video was sent of the torture endured with a warning that hostage treatment will continue to harshen unless conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are softened.
The treatment of hostages continues to be exposed as former hostages speak out of the suffering underwent.
Former hostage Mia Regev, who still cannot walk after 50 days in captivity, spoke to Channel 12 News this weekend about her captors “purposely caus[ing her] pain”. When her bandages were changed, [the doctor] would take chlorine, alcohol, and sometimes even something like apple cider vinegar, and would pour it in [the wound] and apply pressure”, she recalled.
On another occasion, a doctor cut the exposed flesh in her wound with a knife, ignoring her cries to stop. “He had a pistol and I had nothing, so I shut up”, she added.
She was usually given muscle relaxants – ketamine and pethidine – when her bandages were changed, which did not stop her pain but prevented her from screaming out.
