Attack on Nabatieh municipal council
On 16 October 2024, about an hour after an evacuation notice, the Israel Defense Forces attacked the Nabatieh municipal council building in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, with ten airstrikes during a council meeting that was coordinating aid for civilians remaining in the town. The strike killed at least 16 municipal staff, including the mayor Ahmad Kahil, and injured more than 52 others. The governor warned the death toll could rise as rescue teams searched the rubble. Lebanon condemned the attack as a massacre and said it deliberately targeted civilians; Israel said it was striking Hezbollah military targets, including military buildings, headquarters and munitions stores.
The attack happened within a broader escalation: Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon began on 1 October 2024 amid the wider Israel–Hamas war and ongoing clashes with Hezbollah. In September 2024, Israel had carried out a series of airstrikes across Lebanon that sparked controversy. The Lebanese prime minister criticized the strike as an intentional targeting of a municipal meeting about service and relief. The United Nations and the United States called for protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, with the U.S. noting that Hezbollah may operate from civilian areas but that Israel should protect civilians when hitting legitimate targets.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:53 (CET).