On September 23rd 2024, 10 people – including two children – were killed when the town of Arzay in south Lebanon was allegedly bombed by the Israeli military.

Hassan Hattit, his wife Maryam Badran, his nephew Mahmoud Hattit as well as Mahmoud’s mother were all said to have been killed in the strike. Husband and wife Nizam Jazini and Layali Ayash along with their young son Ali Jazini and young daughter Fatima Jazini were also reportedly killed, as were Firas Farhat and Khadija Kamel Kanso.

Friends and relatives of the victims expressed their grief in social media posts. Facebook user Ali Saleh described Khadija Kamel Kanso as ‘the light of the family.’ Sportivo Academy published a post on Facebook of Ali Ayash in his football kit, alongside a picture of Ali with his father Nizam and his sister Fatima, paying tribute to the young boy and his family. Fatima Ayash was described as ‘brilliant’ in a Facebook post published by her school, Matariya Al-Shomer Official Middle School. Layali Ayash was remembered for her work as a teacher by Facebook user Haidar Lamaa who wrote that ‘you taught us that the impossible can come true at our school.’ A post from Rana Yassine Naserldine memorialised Firas, along with images of the young man dressed in a suit and riding in a vehicle with loved ones.

A Facebook post announcing the death of Mahmoud Hattit wrote that ‘everyone knows him and everyone respects him’, stating also that he was a soldier in the Lebanese army. As the Lebanese army is not party to the conflict, and Mahmoud was not working in a military capacity at the time of his death, he has been counted as a civilian.

Khadija Kamel Kanso’s granddaughter posted a picture of her and her grandmother together, writing ‘your parting weighs heavy on my soul.’ She was further remembered as a ‘Hajja’, indicating she may have completed the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

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