A rocket fired from Lebanon hit a football pitch in an Arab town in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights Saturday, killing 11 youngsters in what the army described as the "deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since October 7".

The army said Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired the deadly rocket that killed the youngsters aged between 10 and 20 years when they were hit on the pitch in the town of Majdal Shams.

Many residents of the town retain Syrian nationality decades after the territory's occupation in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu Sal wore a shirt depicting children being bombed for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in a test for organisers who have strict rules on political statements.

Abu Sal was one of two flag-bearers for the Palestinian delegation during the rain-soaked river parade along the Seine on Friday.

His white shirt had embroidered images of warplanes dropping missiles over children playing sport.

"This shirt represents the current picture in Palestine," Abu Sal told AFP on Saturday.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school killed 30 people Saturday, while a rocket fired from Lebanon killed 12 youngsters in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Israel's military said Hezbollah fired the rocket from Lebanon, hitting a football pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams and killing the youngsters, who were between 10 and 20 years old.

Another 18 youths were wounded in the attack, said the emergency services.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sharply criticized his Democratic political rivals, and warned of dire consequences for the Middle East if he was not reelected, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Friday.

The meeting capped a week in which Netanyahu addressed the US Congress and held talks with President Joe Biden and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the vice president, who took the Israeli leader to task over the situation in Gaza in a meeting the previous day.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sharply criticized his Democratic political rivals and pledged to work for peace in the Middle East if reelected as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida on Friday.

The meeting capped a week in which Netanyahu addressed the US Congress and held talks with President Joe Biden and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the vice president, who took the Israeli leader to task over the situation in Gaza in a meeting the previous day.

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.

UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday invoked the annihilation of US adversary Iran in a social media post reminiscent of his most incendiary outbursts while in the White House.

"If they do 'assassinate President Trump,' which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered 'gutless' cowards!" he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

When a grenade shredded his leg during a hostage rescue mission in Gaza, Israeli soldier Barak wanted to shoot himself to avoid being taken captive by Palestinian militants.

But it's the sound of the grenade exploding that haunts him months later.

"The grenade blew up right next to me," the 32-year-old from the northern Israeli town of Acre told AFP.

Barak, who did not wish to disclose his last name to maintain his privacy, was wounded in December in the central Gaza Strip, and has spent the last seven months recovering in hospital.

Iranian authorities on Thursday executed Kurdish man Kamran Sheikheh, the last surviving defendant in a case linked to a Muslim cleric's killing in 2008, rights groups said.

Sheikheh, one of seven men first arrested in the case more than 14 years ago, was put to death in Urmia prison in northwestern Iran, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said in separate statements.

Sheikheh's six co-defendants, also members of Iran's Kurdish minority, had all been executed in separate hangings since November 2023.

Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Thursday as the military said it had recovered the bodies of five Israelis taken to Gaza by Hamas militants after they were killed on October 7.

A group supporting Israeli hostages still held in the Palestinian territory welcomed the return of the bodies but alleged "sabotage" of diplomatic efforts to secure the release of others still in captivity.