Death toll rises after Iran-backed Hezbollah rocket strikes kids' soccer field in Israel

A Hezbollah rocket launched into Israel on Saturday has now claimed the lives of 12 children. The rocket struck a soccer field in northern Israel and injured more than two dozen.

The attack sparked fears among the Biden administration that the situation could spiral out of control and spawn an Israel-Hezbollah war, the New York Post reported.

Hezbollah is an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, which lies along Israel's northern border. The Hezbollah rocket struck a predominantly Druze community in the Golan Heights region.

Israel identified 11 of the 12 victims on Sunday, the New York Post reported. The outlet reported "thousands [were] seen sobbing" at funerals for the victims.

"The Druze are an insular Arabic-speaking ethnoreligious minority who originated in Egypt roughly 1,000 years ago as an offshoot of Islam," the New York Post also reported.

"Its members keep secret the tenets of their faith, which bars converts and frowns upon marrying outside the religion."

Israel promised Hezbollah will "pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his trip to the U.S. to return to Israel after the attack.