Israel’s Security Cabinet authorizes response to Hezbollah attack
Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday night authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to retaliate against Hezbollah for Saturday’s deadly strike on Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a security assessment with other top officials at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on July 28, 2024. Photo by Haim Zach (GPO).
During a four-hour meeting at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, lawmakers gave Netanyahu and Gallant the green light “to decide on the manner and timing of the response” against Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy.
Twelve children were killed and more than 40 people were wounded by the Hezbollah missile strike on the northern Druze town, marking the Iranian proxy’s deadliest attack on Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Following the attack, Netanyahu returned early from his visit to the United States, landing in Israel on Sunday and holding a security assessment at the Kirya in the afternoon with Gallant, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, Netanyahu’s Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman, Israel Security Agency director Ronen Bar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi and other top officials.
Mossad chief David Barnea also participated in the security meeting after returning from multilateral hostage release and ceasefire negotiations in Rome earlier in the day.
Family and friends attend the funeral service of Druze children who were killed at a soccer field from a missile fired from Lebanon, in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, July 28, 2024. Photo by Jamal Awad/Flash90.
On Sunday, thousands of members of the Druze community held funerals for 10 of the 12 casualties, who ranged in age from 10 to 16. The memorial services took place as leaders and members of the Druze community demanded a swift and harsh response against Hezbollah for the rocket attack.
The Israeli Defense Forces said that the missile used in the attack was a Falaq 1 with a 53-kilogram (117-pound) warhead, made by Iran. The source of the launch was an area north of Shebaa in Southern Lebanon, according to the military.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Monday morning that two people were killed and three wounded in an Israeli drone strike in Southern Lebanon, between the towns of Mays al-Jabal and Shaqra. The Lebanese Civil Defense did not say if the dead were terrorists or civilians.
The IDF did not immediately confirm the report, which would be the first deadly Israeli strike in Lebanon since the Majdal Shams massacre.
Earlier on Monday morning, the IDF said that its aerial defense array had successfully intercepted a UAV that crossed from Lebanon into the Western Galilee. The threat triggered sirens in the areas of Admit and Ya’ara and rocket and missile sirens were sounded due to the risk of falling shrapnel.
No casualties were reported.
