A family, a bride, a domestic worker: The toll of Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Ahead of Lebanese engineer Maya Gharib’s wedding planned for next month, excited relatives were arranging for her dress to be picked up. But on Monday, 23-year-old Gharib, her two sisters and their parents were killed in an Israeli strike on their home in a suburb of the southern city of Tyre, said Gharib’s brother Reda, the only surviving member of the family.

Israel says Monday’s strikes targeted Hezbollah weapons. Lebanon’s health ministry said the attacks left more than 550 people dead, including at least 50 children and 98 women, in Lebanon’s bloodiest day since the end of the 1975-90 Civil War.

A screenshot shared with Reuters shows a message sent by a relative to the dress shop after the Gharib family died: “The bride was martyred.”

“They were just sitting at home, and then the house was targeted,” Reda Gharib, who moved to Senegal last year for work, said in a phone call.

The family were buried in a rushed funeral the next day, with few people in attendance due to the danger of strikes. Reda was unable to fly in as most flights had been cancelled amid ongoing Israeli attacks and rocket fire from Hezbollah.

His father was a retired veteran of Lebanon’s army, a cross-sectarian force funded by the US and other countries and widely seen as source of unity in Lebanon. His sisters were all in their 20s.

“We are a nationalistic family with no party affiliation, though of course we stand with everyone who resists aggression,” Reda Gharib said, noting no member of the family was a member of Hezbollah.

But he says that now, having lost his family, he wanted Hezbollah to continue fighting Israel “until victory” and not to accept any negotiations.

‘Indiscriminate’

Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, the day after the militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel, declaring a “support front” for Palestinians.

The clashes escalated sharply since last week, with hundreds killed and thousands injured in Lebanon as Israel wages an air campaign that has seen strikes in most parts of the country.

In the days since the chaos unleashed by the Israeli strikes on Monday, other reports have emerged of families with many members killed.

In the southern town of Hanouiyeh, an Israeli strike killed eight members of one family and a live-in domestic worker from Gambia, relatives said.

Mohammad Saksouk, whose brother Hasan was among those killed, told Reuters the strike hit a building next to the family home, which collapsed onto theirs.

He said the family had nothing to do with Hezbollah and criticized the Israelis for “indiscriminate” attacks while also questioning why Lebanon had been dragged into a battle that Hezbollah says is in support of Palestinians.

“Now, we’re homeless. We are living in the streets,” he said via phone from a temporary shelter. “Before, we were living completely normal lives. Who will give us back our homes?”

The victims included Hasan Saksouk, his adult children Mohammad and Mona, Mohammad’s wife Fatima and their 9-month-old daughter Rima, as well as Mona’s three children, all under nine years old.

Anna, the Gambian worker in her early 30s, also perished.

The coastal town of Saksakieh saw 11 civilians killed on Monday, including six women and two children, according to Mayor Ali Abbas, who said there were direct strikes on homes.

“These are civilian homes, they have nothing to do with any kind of military installation,” Abbas said.