BRUSSELS, July 28. /TASS/. The European Union has called for an international investigation into the strike on the Golan Heights and urged all the parties to show restraint and avoid escalation, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

"Shocking images from the soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams. I strongly condemn this bloodbath. We need an independent international investigation into this unacceptable incident. We urge all parties to exercise utmost restraint and avoid further escalation," he wrote on his X profile.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that the north of the country, including the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, came under heavy shelling from Lebanon. At least one rocket landed on a soccer pitch in the Druze community of Majdal Shams. According to latest reports, 12 people, including children and teenagers, were killed and 19 more injured.

The IDF said that the rocket had been fired by the Hezbollah armed groups from Chebaa, a village in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah denied any involvement in the incident.

Majdal Shams sits near the separation line between Israel and Syria and has been under Israeli control since the 1967 Six-Day War. Most people in the village are Druze, an Arab ethnoreligious group. Majdal Shams is the largest of four Druze communities in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.