Thousands Mourning the Deaths of 12 Children Killed in Hezbollah Attack

July 30, 2024

by: Kate Norman

Tuesday, 30 July 2024 | The Druze village of Majdal Shams is reeling with grief over the deaths of 12 children Saturday following a rocket attack from Hezbollah, the terrorist group operating in southern Lebanon.

Twelve children died and dozens more were wounded when a rocket from Lebanon struck a soccer field in the village. The rocket was part of a barrage of 100 rockets launched by Hezbollah that day. The barrage triggered rocket alert sirens, but the close proximity left people with too little time to make it to the safety of nearby bomb shelters.

The victims ranged between 10 and 16 years old—ten boys and two young girls.

Ayman Fakhr al-Din is the father of one of the victims, 11-year-old Alma Fakhr al-Din. He described arriving to the soccer stadium and seeing the carnage following the attack.

“I reached the stadium, and in the corner, I saw dead bodies and body parts,” the grieving father told CNN. “When I got closer to one of them, I spotted a bracelet on a girl’s wrist. That’s when I knew it was Alma.”

Alma and ten other children were buried Sunday morning in a crowded funeral, as hundreds came to mourn the young lives lost. Their small coffins, covered in white sheets and flowers, were carried over the masses and photos of their bright, smiling faces paraded through the streets by weeping loved ones.

The twelfth victim, 11-year-old Geyara Ebraheem, was initially presumed to be missing but was later discovered to be among the casualties. He was laid to rest on Sunday night.

The director of the pediatric intensive care unit at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Prof. Danny Eitan, told Israel’s Channel 12 news that they were treating several injured children with “multi-system injuries from shrapnel” who had to undergo surgeries throughout the night following the attack.

“It’s been a long time since we saw a group of children who were affected by such severe trauma,” Eitan said.

The Druze village of Majdal Shams lies nestled among the foothills of Mount Hermon in the Golan Heights of northern Israel. The village lies close to the borders with Syria and Lebanon.

The Druze people are known for their hospitality, as they warmly welcome guests with good food and comfortable lodging. Majdal Shams is home to less than 12,000 people, but it is home to a close-knit community.

Hezbollah began launching projectiles into northern Israel on October 8, 2023—the day after the October 7 massacre by Hamas—and has continued launching near-daily attacks against the Jewish state in solidarity with their terror cousins. And Hezbollah has been proudly claiming the attacks against the Jewish state—until Majdal Shams.

The terror group said Saturday morning that it launched a Falaq Iranian-made rocket at an Israeli military base near the village, the Times of Israel reported, but backtracked when news of the Druze children’s deaths began surfacing.

Israel and the United States have both placed blame on Hezbollah for the terror attack, after the Israeli military provided evidence that Hezbollah launched the rocket that struck the soccer field—a Falaq-1 rocket.

Why did Hezbollah backtrack on its involvement when the terror organization has so loudly screamed for Israeli blood and showboated its other attacks against Israel?

As anti-Israel protesters in university campuses and cities across the globe have cried out “Free Palestine,” waving the Palestinian flag, two other flags have appeared in the rallies: Hamas and Hezbollah flags.

The so-called fight for Palestinian sovereignty has given two Iranian-backed terrorist groups a platform and renewed support for their drive to attack the Jewish state and spill Jewish blood.

But this time it wasn’t Jewish blood spilled. It was young Druze children caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a visit to the village, as quoted by the Times of Israel: “To me, there’s no difference between a Jewish child who was murdered in the south of Israel on October 7 and a Druze child who was murdered in the Golan Heights. “It’s the same thing, these are our children.”

Now comes the waiting game to see how Israel will respond.

“We will do everything to restore security and let life continue as it should,” Gallant added, with a warning: “Hezbollah will pay a price for this—our actions will speak volumes.”

Posted on July 30, 2024

Source: (Bridges for Peace, July 30, 2024)

Photo Credit: الرجل من مجدل/commons.wikimedia.org

Photo License: Wikimedia