Residents in Majdal Shams, a Druze town located in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, are deeply devastated after a rocket strike killed 12 youngsters on a football pitch, with Israeli officials calling for retaliation against Hezbollah, the Lebanese group blamed for the attack.
The rocket strike on Saturday hit a football pitch in Majdal Shams during a football training session, tragically claiming the lives of 12 children and teenagers, all under the age of 16.
The death toll could potentially increase as more young people are admitted to hospitals with life-threatening injuries. The loss of life is always deeply devastating, especially within a tight-knit community where everyone is closely connected, intensifying the tragedy.
"It's hard, it's painful for all of us, because like me, I used to come here a lot, almost every day. And here in our community, if you lose one, we all lose one. We are so close together, and yesterday we lost 12. That's a heavy hit for us," said Adham Abu Salah, a resident in Majdal Shams.
Despite international appeals to prevent further regional escalation, Israel's security cabinet gathered Sunday night to deliberate on retaliation measures against Hezbollah following the rocket strike.
According to a statement issued following the meeting, the cabinet ministers had granted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the authority "to decide on the manner of the response against Hezbollah, and on its timing."
"This infamy happened yesterday against this village. The state of Israel, and the Israeli army, will find a way, according to our decision-making process to respond," said Olivier Rafowicz, a spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Hezbollah, which Israel holds responsible for the rocket attack, has been engaged in conflicts with Israeli forces along the Israel-Lebanon border since October last year. The group has denied involvement in the rocket strike.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.
Residents mourn 12 children killed in rocket strike in Golan Heights
China is to impose a matching 34 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports, plus export controls, and trade restrictions, in response to the U.S. move to impose a 34 percent "reciprocal tariff" on Chinese imports, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce announced on Friday.
The spokesperson said that the U.S. imposition of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" seriously violates WTO rules, harms the legitimate rights and interests of the WTO members, and undermines the multilateral trade system and global economic order.
Calling it a typical act of unilateral bullying that threatens global trade stability, China has filed a complaint against the U.S. move under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced on Friday that the imposition of the 34-percent tariffs on all products imported from the United States would take effect on 12:01, April 10, while the U.S. imposition is set to take effect on April 9.
Also on Friday, the Ministry of Commerce issued announcement No.18 of 2025, imposing export controls on seven types of middle-heavy rare earth elements, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.
The Ministry of Commerce also issued announcement No.21 of 2025, adding 16 U.S. military-related entities to the export control list, prohibiting the export of dual-use items to these entities.
The work mechanism for the unreliable entity list issued announcement No.7 of 2025, which added 11 U.S. companies on the unreliable entity list, prohibiting them from engaging in import and export activities related to China, and prohibiting them from making new investments in China.
The Ministry of Commerce issued announcements No.19 and No.20 of 2025, launching an anti-dumping investigation into imported medical CT tubes originating from the U.S. and other regions, and initiating China's first industry competitiveness investigation into imported medical CT tubes.
Also on Friday, the General Administration of Customs issued announcements No.54 and No.55, stating that in order to protect the health of Chinese consumers and ensure the safety of China's livestock production, it has decided to suspend the qualification of one U.S. company for exporting sorghum to China, suspend the qualification of three U.S. companies for exporting poultry bone meal to China, and suspend the export of poultry products to China from two U.S. companies, as their imports are found problematic in the inspection and quarantine.
China to control export, restrict trade with US plus tariffs
