Israel's Gaza Onslaught Continues as Concerns Rise Over Escalation With Hezbollah

Israel's war in Gaza continued in full force on Saturday and Sunday, with at least 66 Palestinians killed in roughly the last 24 hours, as international attention shifted to concern about an all-out war with Lebanon following an attack on Israeli-controlled territory that killed 12 children, with international diplomats pushing for deescalation.

At least 66 people were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza in a 24-hour period, and another 241 were injured, the enclave's health ministry reported Sunday. Fifteen were also killed in strikes on Khan Younis that apparently weren't included in the 24-hour count, including a four-month-old girl, Al Jazeerareported.

The strikes in Gaza came as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a heavily armed militia and political party in Lebanon, intensified. A rocket attack on a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, an Israeli-controlled territory, killed 12 children—the most deadly attack on Israeli-controlled land since October. The victims were Druze Arab; it's not clear from media reports if they were Israeli citizens.

Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was "every indication" that the group was behind it, though Hezbollah denied responsibility, which it hasn't done for previous strikes.

"Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, which it has not paid up to now," Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in an overnight statement.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict, featuring cross-border strikes, has killed more than 500 since October, including more than 100 civilians, but has thus far remained relatively contained, with both sides saying that they are willing to engage in full-scale war but want to avoid it. About 100,000 people in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel have been already displaced due to the strikes.

Hezbollah is seen as far stronger and better equipped than Hamas, the Palestinian militant and political group which Israel is seeking to eliminate, following the group's massacre of more than 1,100 Israelis on October 7. Both groups are classified by the U.S. State Department as foreign terrorist organizations.

Israel's conflicts with the two groups are related and ending one could help end the other. Hezbollah has said it would stop its attacks if a cease-fire in Gaza is reached.

Experts are calling on U.S. diplomats not just to diffuse Israel-Hezbollah tensions but also to use its leverage, as the main arms supplier and backer of Israel, to bring an end to the assault on Gaza.

"The U.S. administration has not done enough to [reach a ceasefire] in Gaza," Heiko Wimmen, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera on Sunday. "The incident in Majdal Shams is a potent reminder of why it is necessary to bring this unending conflict to an end."

For now, the violence continues on multiple fronts. An Israeli drone strike killed two Palestinians in the West Bank on Saturday and injured 28, according to Al Jazeera.