On 23rd September 2024, three young women were killed and another young woman was injured by an alleged Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Arnoun, Lebanon.

The account for Bintjbeil News posted to Facebook to announce the death of Rahab Marouni following an airstrike and shared an image of a young woman smiling in a red top. A post from Ramak also mourned the loss of Rahab, adding that the attack was against her home.

The news of the death of engineering graduate Zeinab Marouni, Rahab’s sister, was shared by the Facebook account of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences at her former university Lebanese University. The post expressed their sympathies and condolences to her friends and family.

Heba Fawaz posted to Facebook to further mourn Zeinab, detailing that she was a diligent student and that the Lebanese University ‘continues to lose the best of its youth’ along with an image of Heba in a black blazer and flower patterned skirt.

The Twitter account, @Check_lebanon, confirmed that sisters Rahab Marouni and Zeinab Marouni, were killed alongside their cousin, Sarah (Zeinab) Wafiq Hamdan. The tweet shared that all three young women were family members and teachers at the Al-Hikma School and the Evangelical School in Nabatieh. The account also shared an image of all three women together smiling.

Dr Qassim Ali Younis posted to Facebook to mourn his wife, Professor Sarah Hamdan. Dr Qassim described his wife as ‘patient, steadfast, compassionate, giving and polite’ and shared that his wife was an educator. He also revealed that he and Sarah shared three children together, who were now mourning their mother.

Zeinab and Rahab’s sister Farah Marouni was also injured, according to a post from Ahlam Jaber wishing her a speedy recovery.

A social media post announced that paramedic Hajj Ibrahim Hamdan led the funeral prayers at Kfar Tibnit hall before a procession which led the bodies to the cemetery in Arnoun for burial. Many images were shared of men, some in emergency services uniforms, paying their respects to the women in body bags after the incident.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strikes to Israeli forces.