Hezbollah says it has attacked a kibbutz in northern Israel, a day after a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights killed twelve people.
In a statement reported by Sky News, the militant group said the attack on the Manara kibbutz had led to the "burning and the injury of those inside it".
Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon on Sunday in response to a rocket attack on a football pitch in the occupied Golan Heights, raising fears of a wider conflict in the region.
Twelve people, including children, were killed when a rocket hit a football pitch in the village of Majdal Shams on Saturday evening.
Israel have blamed Hezbollah for the attack, citing military intelligence, but the militant group have denied responsibility.
Hezbollah said the attack on the kibbutz followed "the enemy's attacks on the steadfast southern villages and safe homes", appearing to reference to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets overnight.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both Israel and Hezbollah to show restraint and not escalate the conflict, which has seen daily air strikes and exchanges of fire.
However Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the site of the strike, said: "We will hit the enemy hard."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to Israel after a visit to Washington on Sunday and chaired a Cabinet meeting to draw up a response to the attack.
On Saturday he warned that Hezbollah would pay a heavy price for this that it has not paid so far.”
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A statement from the White House said US support for Israel's security was iron-clad and that it would "continue to support efforts to end these terrible attacks along the Blue Line, which must be a top priority". The Blue Line refers to the frontier between Lebanon and Israel.
The attack comes at a sensitive time, as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a cease-fire proposal to end the nearly 10-month war in Gaza and free the roughly 110 hostages who remain captive there.
Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed before Saturday.
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