(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic priest has been reported dead due to Israeli bombing in his predominantly Christian town of Qlayaa, Lebanon, where the vast majority of its residents belong to the Maronite Catholic community.
The Cradle has reported that Father Pierre al-Rahi “succumbed to his injuries after being wounded by Israeli artillery shelling that targeted a residential neighborhood in the town.”
“After Israel announced the forcible displacement of the village, Father al-Rahi remained in order to care for his parishioners,” the news outlet reported.
The parish priest of the southern Lebanese town of Qlayaa, Father Pierre al-Rahi, has succumbed to his injuries after being wounded by Israeli artillery shelling that targeted a residential neighborhood in the town. After Israel announced the forcible displacement of the village,…
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) March 9, 2026
The Christian village had not previously been impacted by Israel’s war against Hezbollah, but according to the National News Agency (NNA) a home in the town was “hit twice in succession by artillery shelling from a hostile Merkava tank” on Monday. The Merkava tank (translated from Hebrew, meaning “chariot”) is Israel’s indigenous main battle tank used in the region.
In what has been dubbed a “double tap strike,” the first shelling wounded the husband and wife who owned the home, and then after Al-Rahi, other neighbors and Red Cross paramedics rushed to the scene, the Israelis struck the house again, wounding the priest and three others.
According to media outlet Asharq Al-Awsat, a medical source revealed the Maronite priest died as a result of his injuries.
There remained no indication of the motive behind the attack on the residential home which was located on the town’s outskirts.
On Friday, Al-Rahi participated in a local gathering held in the nearby town of Marjayoun. At the event, attendees expressed their firm resolve to stay in their homes, despite the Israeli army’s evacuation orders directed at all residents living south of the Litani River—roughly 30 kilometers from the border with Israel.
During his speech at the event, Al-Rahi is reported to have encouraged his fellow Lebanese saying: “When we defend our land, we defend it peacefully, and we carry only the weapons of peace, goodness, love and prayer.”
Christian neighborhood bombed by Israel
Following the joint Israeli-American attacks on Iran, which began on February 28 with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the bombing of an Iranian elementary school killing over 150 young girls, the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon retaliated with missile fire upon Israel.
According to Drop Site News, this March 2 retaliation was the first major violation of its November 2024 ceasefire agreement with Israel. Within the same time period, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and other organizations had logged over 15,000 Israeli violations of the agreement consisting of nearly daily bombings, drone operations, ground incursions, and airspace breaches, resulting in the killing of over 340 people.
During its escalatory response substantially aimed at residential neighborhoods in Lebanon, Israel struck a hotel in a Christian-majority section of Beirut in close proximity to Sacred Heart Hospital and the Chaldean Christian Cathedral of St. Raphael, killing at least 11 people last Wednesday.
In addition to the attacks on Beirut, the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for essentially the entire region of Lebanon south of the Litani River, which includes around 50 villages and hundreds of thousands of people.
According to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), with the Israeli army advancing from the south, these orders overwhelmed the highways in southern Lebanon as the many thousands of people sought to flee north, stranding families in traffic for many hours.
Lebanese Bishop: ‘They are our people; we will take care of them with what we have’
In Sidon, Lebanon’s third-largest city, Greek Melkite Bishop Elie Haddad described the tense atmosphere, stating, “Missiles are flying over our heads.”
ACN explained how public schools and Christian parish centers were being opened and utilized as shelters for displaced populations fleeing Israeli bombardments.
In Tyre, Greek Melkite Bishop Georges Iskandar estimated that approximately 800 Christian families within his diocese may soon require assistance if the escalation continues.
Lamenting the human cost of the renewed violence, the prelate said:
People are exhausted; they fear for their children and their future; they yearn for a simple and ordinary life: that a child may go to school without fear, that an elderly person may sleep peacefully in his home, that a father and mother may work for their daily bread in dignity.
As the shepherd of this local Church, my foremost concern is to remain close to these innocent people: to be present among them, to listen to their suffering, to pray with them, and to remind them that their dignity is safeguarded in the sight of God, and that Christian hope is not built upon balances of power but upon faith in the Lord of history, who wills peace for His people.
And further north, in Deir El Ahmar, Maronite Bishop Hanna Rahme explained how they were providing shelter to displaced Muslim and Christian families in public schools and St. Nohra Church.
With very limited resources, the bishop reaffirmed their commitment to not abandoning these people under these dire circumstances. “They are our people; we will take care of them with what we have.”
As Israeli attacks intensify, the death toll from their ongoing war on Lebanon continues to rise sharply. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry’s report on Sunday, 394 people have been killed in the last week, among them at least 83 children.
These include the latest strikes in central Beirut over the weekend in which the Israeli army bombed a hotel sheltering a number of displaced civilians fleeing Israel’s incursions in the south. This bombing and others killed at least 15 people, and wounded another 15.
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