During the night of Sunday, September 29, 2024, at around 1 AM, four paramedics, all young men and one of whom has contested civilian status, were killed and a number of civilians were injured as a result of an alleged Israeli airstrike on a house near the civil defense center associated with the Al-Risala Association for Health Aid in Tayr Debba, a town in the Tyre district in south Lebanon.

Multiple sources and local media reports, such as MTV Lebanon, said that an Israeli airstrike on a civil defense center associated with the Al-Risala Association for Health Aid killed four paramedics.

According to @magazine_wafaa on X, the Israeli military struck a house next to the Al-Risala Association for Health Aid’s emergency center which in turn collapsed. The four medics who were killed as per a list shared by @AmalElzein4 on X and other sources individually are: two brothers Ali Reda Golani and Hossam Reda Golani, Diaa Muhammad Saeed Fakih, and Mohammad Sheikh Omar. They were all in the emergency center building when it collapsed.

Local media such as LBCI reported that the Al-Risala Association mourned the four victims. It wrote in its tribute: “You served your family without getting tired. You refused to leave the town to facilitate the affairs of your family. A role model for those who are considered and evidence of your honorable and sincere work in challenging the barbarism of the enemy, following the path of our Imam, Mr. Musa al-Sadr. “

A picture shared by Mohammad Munzer on Facebook showed the four victims, men in their late twenties and thirties, in their paramedic uniforms.

According to MTV Lebanon, a number of other people were injured. It is unclear how many, and if they were civilians and specifically medics or not.

Many pages and pages on social media mourned the four men, such as Aminah Rasho who mourned the death of Mohammad Sheikh Omar, the son of her husband’s brother, sharing pictures of him in his paramedic vest. Farhad Aloosh on Facebook also mourned him, as Mohammad Sheikh Omar was the son of her cousin, also sharing a picture of him in a paramedic vest. Facebook account “Kobani” noted that the late Mohammad was originally from the Syrian town of Kobani.

Others mourned the death of Diaa Muhammad Saeed Fakih. Amal Hamoud posted a picture of him at the gym on Facebook. Sariah Hussein Harissy, who is the cousin of Fakih’s mother, also mourned his death on Facebook, sharing pictures of him including one with his paramedic vest. Mohammad Ezzedin on Facebook shared pictures of Diaa, describing him as a “cheerful and polite young man, whose smile never left his face,” and said that he “remained stationed throughout the war in his town of Tairdaba and did not retreat for a moment from serving his people in the town.” He added that Diaa “is attested to his nobility, generosity, chivalry and courage.”

According to Hassan Zayoun, Diaa was a member of the Amal movement, “which he loved and for which he gave all his life every day.” AMAL is a political party that used to operate a militia and is now allied with Hezbollah. In the image shared by Hassan, Diaa is pictured in a military uniform and with a gun in his hand. Therefore, his civilian status is contested.

Ali Joulani on Facebook mourned his cousin Ali Reda Golani and shared a picture of him in his paramedic vest.  Ali’s brother, Hossam Reda Golani, was mourned in a post by “Amal Movement” on Facebook.

Ya Jnoub on Facebook shared a video of the victims showing each one of them in their daily life: walking, smiling, riding a motorcycle, singing, and smoking shisha.

Ali Haidar shared a picture on Facebook with the paramedics who died, reportedly of the night before they were killed. The men in the picture are smoking shisha, smiling and having tea.

Multiple sources, such as Wadi Press on Facebook, shared pictures of the shrouded bodies of the paramedics wrapped in the Amal Movement flag, with townspeople, officials, and paramedics from the Al-Risala Association attending the funeral of the four young men. Other pictures show the bodies being buried. The funeral was organized by the Amal Movement. As there is no explicit indication of militant activities of the three victims (except Diaa whose civilian status is contested), they have been counted as civilians.

A picture shared by Habbouch news on Facebook showed paramedics in their uniforms standing in a line and praying before the shrouded bodies during the burial service in the town cemetery. The post caption said: “Yesterday they were tending to wounds, and today we are bleeding them as heroes.”

Tairdibba village posted pictures from the funeral on Facebook. In one picture, women in hijabs are seen crying and in distress.

Where sources identified the belligerent, all sources attributed the strike solely to the Israeli military.