Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Galant vowed a strong response during a visit to the town of Majdal Shams, near the Syrian and Lebanese border, where a rocket attack killed children and teenagers on Saturday.

Tel Aviv: Amid a fierce war with Hamas in Gaza, Israel says Hezbollah will “pay the price” after a rocket attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, which Tel Aviv blamed on the Lebanese group, CNN reported Sunday. The latest developments raised fears of an all-out war in the region.

Hezbollah has “vehemently” denied being behind the strike, the deadliest attack to hit Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since the October 7 attack.

Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes overnight on Sunday against Hezbollah targets “deep inside Lebanese territory” and along the border, the Israeli military said in a military statement on Sunday morning. However, it was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties in the attack.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Galant vowed a strong response during a visit to the town of Majdal Shams, near the Syrian and Lebanese border, where a rocket attack killed children and teenagers on Saturday.

“Hezbollah is responsible for this and they will pay the price,” Gallant said. In an earlier statement from his office, he added: “We will strike the enemy hard.”

Attacks on the region on Saturday included “approximately 30 launches” from Lebanon into Israel's territory. Israel's military quickly blamed an Iran-backed group for the attack.

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, 12 children were killed and 44 injured in the attack. According to CNN, the children killed in the strike were playing on a football field.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday backed Israel's assessment, saying “every indication” points to the strike being a rocket fired by Hezbollah.

About 20,000 Druze Arabs live in the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured from Syria in the Six-Day War in 1967 and occupied in 1981. Considered occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, the area is home to about 25,000 Israelis. Jewish settlers, according to CNN.

Israel and Hezbollah have been trading rocket fire almost daily since Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on October 7, and those exchanges have escalated, prompting fears on several occasions that Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza could turn into a conflict. Several marches across the Middle East.

Although Hezbollah admitted to carrying out the attack on the Golan Heights on Saturday, it denied responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams.

(with input from ANI)