Israel's attempts to make amends for the desecration of a statue of Jesus by its soldiers in southern Lebanon were met with outrage from Christians in the area.
The photo of an Israeli soldier striking the face of the statue of a crucified Jesus Christ with a sledgehammer drew widespread anger and condemnation from Lebanon’s Christian communities.
Joseph Attieh, a local official from the village of Debel where the incident occurred, told The National: “Their apology isn’t enough. It feels like an insult. This is a symbol of love and peace, and they broke it.”
A day after the incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “stunned and saddened’ by the offence. The Israeli military replaced the damaged statue and sentenced two soldiers involved to 30 days of military detention and removal them from combat duty.
“We couldn’t understand why an army would act like this,” said Mr Attieh. “War is one thing. Religion is another. Every country at the UN agrees that religious symbols should be protected.
“This will remain a wound in our hearts for a long time. It’s a red line. There is no respect left for humanity.”
Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked religious sites in Lebanon, including mosques and churches, as well as in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has also routinely banned worshippers from entering holy sites, most recently closing Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during Ramadan and imposing controls on attendance for Easter celebrations.
As a backlash grew against the desecration of the statue in Debel, news spread that the Israeli army had placed humanitarian supplies near several Christian villages and towns along the southern border with Israel.
Local officials told The National that the aid came from the Samaritan’s Purse, a US-based evangelical Christian aid group that has offices in Israel and Lebanon.
They said it was delivered through Israel and deposited about a kilometre from the UN-demarcated Blue Line that serves as the Israel-Lebanon border. It has yet to be established why the aid was delivered through Israel rather than Beirut and the NGO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“They contacted the priesthood from Beirut and told them aid would reach them,” said Hassan Saeed, an official from the town of Rmeish. “They sent a location where they could go pick it up. How it arrived, how it was unloaded, we didn’t see. But there’s no meat or chicken.
“We don’t want herbs, we want to live in dignity and for them to establish a humanitarian corridor so we can get our own supplies,” he added.
Christian communities in the south of the country have become isolated in the weeks since the Israeli military launched an offensive in Lebanon on March 2, when the Iran-backed group Hezbollah resumed attacks on Israel in support of Iran and in retaliation for Israel's daily violations of a previous 2024 ceasefire. The Israeli attacks have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced about 1.2 million, mostly residents of the south, Lebanese authorities said.
Isolated villages
The Christian communities in Rmeish, Debel and Ain Ebel, who resisted the Israeli military's forced displacement orders, have been cut off from the rest of Lebanon for weeks, with neither the Lebanese army nor a UN peacekeeping force able to establish a safe corridor for the movement of residents and the delivery of supplies.
These villages remain isolated despite a 10-day ceasefire that began on April 17, with the Mechanism – a co-ordination committee created as part of the 2024 ceasefire – unable to “deconflict”, meaning it cannot ensure safety of movement for residents.
Local officials in Rmeish and Debel said residents were in dire need of aid. “At this point, we don’t care from which side the aid comes,” Mr Saeed said.
At the start of this month, two villagers, Georges and Elie Soueid, were killed by Israeli gunfire as they returned to Debel from Rmeish, where they had gone to collect provisions.
“After what happened with Georges and his son, no one dares move around. People are staying in their homes in the village,” Mr Saeed said.
After several humanitarian convoys were cancelled during the fighting, the papal envoy and other Christian organisations were finally able to reach these border communities with humanitarian relief this week.
As Mr Attieh spoke to The National by phone, his voice was drowned out by the ringing of bells to welcome the papal envoy as he entered Debel.
Along with humanitarian supplies, the envoy was bringing a larger cross from Italy, Mr Attieh said, to replace the small one the Israelis had put up.
