MAJDAL SHAMS, GOLAN HEIGHTS (VINnews) — Two years after a rocket struck a soccer field in this Druze town, killing 12 children and teenagers, the father of one victim described the enduring grief that continues to define daily life for the families.

On July 27, 2024, a rocket fired from Lebanon exploded on the pitch in Majdal Shams during a youth soccer activity, killing 12 young people ages 10 to 16 from the Druze community and wounding dozens more. Israeli and U.S. officials attributed the attack to the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. It was among the deadliest single strikes on civilians in northern Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing regional conflict.

Among the dead was 11-year-old Alma Ayman Fakhr al-Din. In a recent conversation marking the anniversary, her father, Ayman Fakhr al-Din, was asked what he remembered most about his daughter.

“When she was alive or when I had to collect the pieces of her?” he responded.

Alma’s mother, overcome by grief, was unable to speak. The father led visitors through his daughter’s room, which remains unchanged since the day of the attack, a frozen snapshot of the life cut short.

The strike hit around 6:18 p.m. as children gathered for practice or a match. Most of the victims were local residents of the Arabic-speaking Druze town in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Families and community members have held memorials and tributes in the years since, including efforts to honor the victims’ memory through gardens and shared recollections of ordinary childhood joys interrupted by the violence.

The attack intensified cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah that had already been underway for months, contributing to a wider escalation that later drew in further regional fighting.