| October 2024 Aitou airstrike | |
|---|---|
| Part of the2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon | |
  Aitou Location within Lebanon | |
| Location | Aitou,Lebanon |
| Date | 14 October 2024 |
| Target | Ahmad Fakih[1] |
Attack type | Airstrikes,massacre |
| Deaths | 23[2] |
| Injured | 8+ |
| Perpetrator |  Israel Defense Forces |
On 14 October 2024, theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) conducted an airstrike on theMaronite Christian town ofAitou inNorth Lebanon, as part of the2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The airstrike killed 22 Lebanese people,[3] including 12 women and 2 children, and wounded 8.[4] This was the first timeIsrael targeted theChristian-majority region ofZgharta.[5][6][7] Lebanese sources have referred to it as a massacre.[8]
Israel began aground invasion of Lebanon on 1 October 2024. The Israeli airstrike on Aitou took place following theHezbollah drone attack on an IDF military barracks in Binyamina the previous day, after which Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Hezbollah "without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon – includingBeirut".[9]
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the Israeli airstrike targeted a residential apartment in Aitou. The airstrike severely damaged the building, destroyed several cars and caused a large fume of thick smoke to rise.[10] TheLebanese Health Ministry reported that at least 21 Lebanese people were killed including 12 women and two children and 8 were wounded, and thatDNA tests were being conducted to identify body parts.[4][11]
AlthoughHezbollah is mainly present insouthern Lebanon and the southern suburbs ofBeirut, and has little to no presence in northern Lebanon, Israel claims to have targeted senior Hezbollah leader Ahmad Fakih.[12][13][14][1] The mayor of Aitou, Joseph Trad, said the building had been rented to displaced families that fled the warfare in southern Lebanon.
The UN’s human rights office has called for an investigation into the strike. Spokesman Jeremy Laurence said the strike raised "real concerns" with respect to international humanitarian law.[15] AnAmnesty International investigation stated that even if Israel was targeting Fakih, the number of civilians present "likely would make this an indiscriminate attack." They called on the incident to be investigated as a war crime.[16]
Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told a Geneva news briefing that "12 women and two children" were among those killed in the attack in the Christian-majority town of Aitou.