The Druze community in northern Israel was horrified and in shock on Saturday night following a deadly Hezbollah rocket attack on a soccer field in the village of Majdal Shams.
At least 10 children were killed and dozens of others, including children and adults, were wounded. Of those, 17 were listed in critical condition. Many were rushed by IDF helicopter to Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, where doctors fought to save their lives.
A member of the Druze community living in Haifa spoke with JewishPress.com in an exclusive interview Saturday night.
Druze press liaison to the Jerusalem Press Club (JPC) Eman Safady said she had called a friend in Majdal Shams and was on the phone just as the rocket landed in the soccer field.
“I heard the screaming of the mothers,” she said. “It was terrible. I feel like it’s October 7th all over again.
“They were just children. This attack took place in the same way as the attack on Hurfeish,” she said.
Last month, nearly a dozen people in the Upper Galilee Druze town of Hurfeish were wounded in a direct hit on a soccer field during a massive swarm of Hezbollah explosive suicide drones launched at Israel from Lebanon. IDF Sgt. (res.) Refael Kauders, 39, from Tzur Hadassah, was killed in the attack, and nine other soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously.
11 Israelis Hurt in Direct Strike on Upper Galilee Soccer Field by Hezbollah Rocket
“I think they want to use civilians in their attacks on Israel, Safady said.
“The Druze community is like an operational tool, a pawn, for Hezbollah. Even during the Second Lebanon War it wasn’t like this. I think they have changed their strategy about how to attack Israel, through their brothers.
“Druze are brothers of the Jews. They fight with them in the IDF. It’s a new tool, to kill Druze civilians in attacking Israel,” she added.
