Regional war looms closer

Israeli warplanes hit several targets in southern Lebanon early July 28, as diplomats worked frantically to prevent a regional war after a rocket strike that killed 12 youths the previous day in the Golan Heights. Israel is blaming Hezbollah for the rocket, which struck a football field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility, asserting that a projectile from Israel's own Iron Dome missile defense system hit the village amid strikes on military targets elsewhere in the area by the Iran-backed Lebanese armed organization. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading strikes over the Lebanese border since Oct. 8, a day after the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has killed 527 people in Lebanon since then, according to an AFP tally, including at least 104 civilians. Israel says 23 of its civilians and 17 soldiers have been killed by Hezbollah rocket-fire over this period. (The Guardian, MEE, Reuters)

The Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syrian in 1967 and formaly annexed in 1981, is considered to be occupied territory under international law and UN Security Council resolutions, and Syria continues to demand it be returned.  More than 20,000 Druze live in the Golan Heights. Most of them identify as Syrian and rejected an offer of Israeli citizenship after te 1967 seizure. Those who refused were given Israeli residency cards but are not considered citizens. (CNN)

On the same day as the strike on the Golan, the Israeli military struck a school in south-central Gaza, with the Strip's health ministry reporting at least 30 Palestinians killed and some 100 injured. The Israel Defense Forces said that the school was being used as a Hamas command center. Hamas denied the IDF claims. Since the attack, a video of the aftermath has been verified by several major news outlets. The video appears to show children among the victims of the strike. 

The strike on the Deir al-Balah school is the latest in a campaign by the IDF in and around Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where Israel says it seeks to wipe out Hamas leadership. The Gaza Civil Defense Service says that 170 people have been killed in the campaign since it began a week ago. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 190,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Khan Younis as a result of the military operations. Meanwhile, the IDF has ordered civilians to relocate to an "adjusted humanitarian area" in al-Mawasi. (Jurist)