After a tank launched a first raid that injured the owners of the house, Al-Rai was among the neighbors who rushed to the scene to help the residents. The priest was injured in a second strike and later died in the hospital from his wounds. A number of other civilians were also injured in the attack.
pope Express “Deep sorrow for all the victims of the bombings that took place in the Middle East over the past few days, for the many innocent people, including many children, and for those who were providing assistance to them, such as Father Pierre Al-Rahi, the Maronite priest who was killed this afternoon in Qalaia.”
Al-Rahi, who was 50 years old, was killed days after speaking out in support of Lebanese civilians “defending our lands.”
“As our ancestors said, we are only defending our land,” said Al-Rai, a resident of the southern town who was staying in the southern town in defiance of Israeli demands to evacuate. “We defend ourselves peacefully. None of us carry weapons. We only carry weapons of peace, goodness, love, prayer and more prayer.”
“That is why we want to preserve the fact that we are here on our land today,” the priest said.
One of the Lebanese commentators He said The shepherd was “a praying priest. He was killed in broad daylight.”
The Israeli military has been bombing what it claims are Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon over the past week, and civilians report that residential areas are increasingly being targeted.
Mayor of Qalaia Hanna Daherl He said Asia News Israel claimed that “there were fighters in the house, but this is not true. These are lies.”
“Inside there were only the residents of the house and the villagers who came to help the wounded,” Daher said.
Last week, Israel demanded that residents of southern Lebanon – where about 200,000 people live – leave immediately and head north of the Litani River, but Al-Rai was among several clerics who said they would stay to support civilians who cannot leave their homes.
Helping the International Church in Need He said OSV News “Despite the growing insecurity in southern Lebanon, many priests and nuns chose to remain with their communities. Many Christian families also remained in their villages, unwilling to give up their homes, lands, and livelihoods.”
Father Tawfiq Bou Merhi, parish priest of two sects in the region, He said EWTN News Fleeing the area means “living on the street or trying to rent a house, but people cannot afford it.”
He said the shepherd’s killing had a profound impact on the local Catholic community, which was “crying over the tragedy and, at the same time, very afraid.”
“Until now people did not want to leave their homes in Christian villages, but in this situation everything has changed,” Bou Merhi said. He said EWTN News.
The French charity L’Oeuvre d’Orient, which supports Christians in the Middle East, condemned “In the strongest possible terms, these are acts of war aimed at destabilizing all of Lebanon and killing innocent civilians.”
“The death of the priest who refused to leave his parish is another escalation of senseless violence,” the group said. Louvre Dorint also condemns the danger of annexation and disappearance of villages south of the Litani River, especially historic Christian villages.
At least 394 people, including 42 women and 83 children, have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli forces since they began retaliating against Hezbollah, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday.
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