2024 Derdghaya Melkite Church airstrike

Last updated

2024 Derdghaya Melkite Church airstrike
Part of the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
Derdghaya Melkite Church destroyed.png
Rescuers among the ruins of the destroyed church
Lebanon adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Derdghaya
Location within Lebanon
LocationDerdghaya, Lebanon
Date9 October 2024
TargetMelkite Church
Attack type
Airstrikes, massacre
Deaths8+
PerpetratorFlag of the Israel Defense Forces.svg  Israel Defense Forces

On 9 October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted an airstrike on a Melkite church in the village of Derdghaya, in Southern Lebanon, as part of the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. [1] The airstrike killed at least eight people inside the church. The IDF also hit the house of a priest and the parish offices. [2]

Contents

Background

As a result of the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, 1.2 million Lebanese citizens have been displaced from their homes. [3] The Melkite Church in Derdghaya, Tyre District was housing some of these displaced in the church and two of the adjoining halls. [1] [2]

The church had been previously bombed by Israel in 1978 and again in 1992. [4]

Airstrike

The Catholic pastoral aid organization, Aid to the Church in Need reported that on 9 October 2024, an Israeli missile hit the church, completely destroying it and killing at least eight people inside. [1] Another missile hit a priests house and a three-story building which had the parish offices, completely destroying them as well. [2] [4]

The Israeli army claimed that the attack was directed against militiamen. [5]

Reactions

Religious leaders

On 11 October 2024, Pope Francis released two statements on X stating, [6]

All nations have the right to exist in peace and security. Their territories must not be attacked, and their sovereignty must be respected and guaranteed through peace and dialogue. War and hatred bring only death and destruction for everyone. #Peace

and [7] [2]

I call for an immediate ceasefire in all theatres of conflict in the Middle East, including Lebanon. Let us #PrayTogether for the Lebanese people, especially for residents in the south who have been forced to flee their homes. May they soon be able to return and live in #Peace.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, issued a statement on 11 October 2024 saying “We will not surrender to events that seem to drive us apart, but we will always seek to be thirsty builders of peace and justice.” [2]

Related Research Articles

The following is a timeline of the 2014 Gaza War. Over 2014, Palestinians suffered the highest number of civilian casualties since the Six-Day War in 1967, according to a United Nations report, given the July–August conflict, and rising tolls in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A spike in Israeli casualties also occurred. 2,256 Palestinians and 85 Israelis died, while 17,125 Palestinians, and 2,639 Israelis suffered injuries.

The Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war refers to the Iranian–Israeli standoff in and around Syria during the Syrian conflict. With increasing Iranian involvement in Syria from 2011 onwards, the conflict shifted from a proxy war into a direct confrontation by early 2018.

The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.

Events in the year 2023 in Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Hamas war</span> Ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place in the Gaza Strip and Israel since 7 October 2023. It is the fifth war of the Gaza–Israel conflict since 2008, and the most significant military engagement in the region since the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It is the deadliest war for Palestinians in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)</span> Ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel

Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have exchanged fire along the Israel–Lebanon border and in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 8 October 2023. Israel has also carried out airstrikes against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon and in Syria. The conflict is part of the spillover of the Israel–Hamas war and is the largest escalation of the Hezbollah–Israel conflict since the 2006 Lebanon War.

Events of the year 2024 in Israel.

Events in the year 2024 in Lebanon.

This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 8 October 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket strikes on Israel in response to the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel, until the beginning of the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which lasted from 24 November 2023 to 30 November 2023.

This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 24 November 2023, when the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, until 1 January 2024, one day prior to the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri.

This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 2 January 2024, with the Assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, until 31 March 2024, one day prior to the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

On 11 September 2024, the Israel Defense Forces bombed the UN-run Al-Jawni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp of central Gaza. The school had been sheltering people displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Per rescuers, 18 people were killed and more than 44 others were wounded. Among the killed were six United Nations workers, including the manager of the UNRWA shelter. This made it the highest death toll for UN staff in any single incident of the Israel–Hamas War and raising the number of UNRWA staff killed since the beginning of the war to 220. The attack was one of a number of attacks on schools during the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the fifth bombing of the Al-Jawni School since October 2023.

On 23 September 2024, Israel began a series of airstrikes in Lebanon as part of the ongoing Israel–Hezbollah conflict with an operation it code-named Northern Arrows. Since then, Israel's attacks have killed over 800 people, injured more than 5,000, and displaced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians. The attacks are the deadliest in Lebanon since the end of the Lebanese Civil War, and began five days after Israel performed a deadly pager and walkie-talkie attack on devices intended for Hezbollah members, and three days after Israel performed an airstrike on an apartment complex in Beirut which killed Redwan Force commander Ibrahim Aqil as well as 54 others.

This timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict covers the period from 17 September 2024, when Hezbollah pagers exploded throughout Lebanon and Syria to the present. Beginning 23 September, Israel began its airstrikes in Lebanon, on 27 September, they assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, and on 1 October, they invaded Lebanon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon</span> Ongoing Israeli military operation against Lebanon

On 1 October 2024, Israel invaded Southern Lebanon in an escalation of the ongoing Israel–Hezbollah conflict, a spillover of the Israel–Hamas war. The conflict marked Israel's fourth invasion of Lebanon since 1978.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Balog, Amy (10 October 2024). "LEBANON: At least eight killed in airstrike on church". acnuk.org. Aid to the Church in Need.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Henríquez, Andrés (11 October 2024). "Israeli missile destroys Catholic church in Lebanon; at least 8 dead". catholicnewsagency.com. CNA.
  3. Berger, Miriam; Pietsch, Bryan; Sands, Leo; Chamaa, Mohamad El (4 October 2024). "Israel unleashes major strikes near Beirut as Lebanon campaign escalates". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 "LEBANON: Israeli airstrike hits Melkite Greek Catholic Church, eight dead". hrwf.eu. Human Rights Without Frontiers. 14 October 2024.
  5. "Lebanon: Israeli air force also strikes a church in Derdghaya". asianews.it. Fondazione PIME Onlus – AsiaNews. 11 October 2024.
  6. @Pontifex (11 October 2024). "All nations have the right to exist in peace and security. Their territories must not be attacked, and their sovereignty must be respected and guaranteed through peace and dialogue. War and hatred bring only death and destruction for everyone. #Peace" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  7. @Pontifex (11 October 2024). "I call for an immediate ceasefire in all theatres of conflict in the Middle East, including Lebanon. Let us #PrayTogether for the Lebanese people, especially for residents in the south who have been forced to flee their homes. May they soon be able to return and live in #Peace" (Tweet) via Twitter.