Local officials have confirmed that at least 19 people were killed, including six women, five children and a child, in an Israeli attack on a home in southern Lebanon Tuesday.
Suad Hammoud, a BBC reporter, said that among the dead were former school principal Ahmed Ezzedine as well as three generations of his extended family who lived in a three-storey house in the village Teffahta.
She said that the village’s imam was killed along with two other people who were walking near the house during the strike.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the incident but has repeatedly stated that it takes steps to minimize harm to civilians.
It has carried thousands of airstrikes across Lebanon in the last four weeks, targeting the armed group Hezbollah, its operatives, weapons and infrastructure.
Ms Hammoud stated that the strike on Teffahta took place after the funeral of Ahmed Ezzedine’s cousin and brother in law, Khodr. Khodr was killed by an Israeli air strike on Monday in the nearby village of Marwanieh.
She said that a report from the state-run National News Agency, which claimed the strike was aimed at a wake where mourners could express their condolences, was incorrect.
“Only the residents of the house were there.” They returned after the funeral. She said, “There were no strangers at the funeral.”
The village has no wakes anymore because people are aware of the circumstances that prevent them from offering their condolences personally.
She said that Mr Ezzedine’s wife, sister, daughters and daughter-in law, sons-inlaw, and grandchildren were also inside the house.
Mr Ezzedine and his family lived in the lower floors, while his children lived in the upper floors. Everyone is believed to be on the ground floor.
A video posted to social media shortly after showed a huge plume rising from a hillside where the house was situated in Teffahta.
Lebanese TV broadcasted footage on Wednesday morning of the rubble and twisted steel that once constituted the upper floors.
The Lebanese Health Ministry has not released the number of people killed in this strike. The community Facebook page of Ms Hammoud & Teffahta put the death toll as 19.
The Facebook account identified the five children as Mohammed Yassin and Ahmed and Malak Ezzedine as well as Sara and Mohammed Kinyar. The six women were named as Zaineb and Malak and Hadiya, Fadiya, Fatima and Fadiya Ezzedine as well as Zaina Taleb.
According to Ms Hammoud, Sheikh Abo-Rayya was walking close to the house when the strike occurred.
The houses in the village were not isolated. They were very close together, she said. She added that two other men, identified by a Facebook account as Rabih younes and Hussein Saleh, may also have been victims of the explosion.
A relative of Sheikh Abou Rayya told BBC that the strike took place at 17:10 local, or 15 minutes after his funeral.
They claimed that the sheikh wasn’t the target and noted that the house was “obliterated”.
“Sheikh Abdo just passed by the house.” He wasn’t in the house. He was walking to the mosque along with his companion. They were going to pray,” they said.
“The imam was walking down the hill when the pressure wave blew away. He didn’t die immediately. He was injured, and died in the hospital five hours later.”
Last week, UN human rights reported that 12 women and 2 children were among the 23 people who died in an Israeli airstrike on a four storey residential building located in the northern Lebanese city of Aitou.
It called for an inquiry into the attack and expressed concerns about international humanitarian law including the principles of differentiation and proportionality.
The Israeli military claimed it “hit a target belonging the terrorist group Hezbollah”.
Israel launched an air campaign against Hezbollah and a ground invasion after almost a full year of border fighting sparked off by the Gaza war. It said it wanted to guarantee the safe return of the tens of thousand residents of Israeli border regions who were displaced by rockets attacks.
Hezbollah started firing rockets at northern Israel to support Palestinians on 8th October 2023. This was the day after Hamas’s deadly assault on Israel.
According to the health ministry, more than 2,500 people were killed in Lebanon between then and now, including 1,900 within the last five weeks. Israeli authorities claim that 59 people were killed in northern Israel, including the occupied Golan Heights.
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