Deadly strike at Gaza school, rocket kills 12 in Israeli-annexed Golan

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school killed 30 people Saturday, while a rocket fired from Lebanon killed 12 youngsters in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Israel's military said Hezbollah fired the rocket from Lebanon, hitting a football pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams and killing the youngsters, who were between 10 and 20 years old.

The initial toll reported was 11, but a 12th victim later died. Another 18 youths were wounded in the attack, said the emergency services.

"Israel will not let this murderous attack go unanswered and Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for it, a price it has not paid before," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement from his office.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah have traded cross-border fire since early October, following the attack by the Lebanese group's ally Hamas on southern Israel which sparked the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu later said he would hold a security cabinet meeting on his return to Israel from the United States.

The United Nations urged "maximum restraint", in a joint statement from their special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) chief Aroldo Lazaro.

Intensifying exchanges of fire "could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief," they said.

The U.S. National Security Council condemned what it described as a "horrific attack".

"Our support for Israel's security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah," a spokesman said in a statement.

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the "bloodbath"...