Netanyahu vows 'severe' response as Majdal Shams residents protest his visit

Some residents of the Golan Heights village where a rocket killed 12 youths over the weekend protested Monday the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials expressing condolences.

Netanyahu is weighing Israel's response to the attack it blames on Hezbollah, which in a rare move has denied having a role. The prime minister laid a wreath, expressed his shock and said the local Druze community has paid a heavy price. He met with representatives of victims' families.

But after Netanyahu left the area of the soccer field where the rocket hit, some people ran there, threw away the wreath and protested the political use of the tragedy. Relatives and friends of the dead cried over photos of the children and teens that had been placed there. They said they want the war to end.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged cross-border fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. The weekend attack in Majdal Shams again raised concerns about a wider regional war.

Netanyahu, during his visit, vowed Israel would deliver a "severe response".

"These children are our children ... The State of Israel will not, and cannot, let this pass. Our response will come and it will be severe," Netanyahu said at the site of the attack, according to a statement issued by his office.