October 2024 Aitou airstrike

On 14 October 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted an airstrike on the town of Aitou in North Lebanon, a Maronite Christian-majority town in the Zgharta district. The strike occurred as part of the broader 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which had begun as a ground operation on 1 October 2024. This marked the first time Israel had struck the Christian-majority Zgharta region during the conflict.

The strike came a day after a Hezbollah drone attack targeted an IDF military barracks in Binyamina. Following that attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue striking Hezbollah "without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon – including Beirut."

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the airstrike hit a residential apartment building in Aitou, severely damaging the structure, destroying several vehicles, and producing a large plume of thick smoke. The Lebanese Health Ministry reported that at least 21 people were killed, including 12 women and two children, with 8 others wounded. DNA testing was reportedly being used to help identify body parts recovered from the site. Lebanese sources have referred to the strike as a massacre.

Hezbollah's presence is concentrated in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, with little to no presence in the north. Nonetheless, Israel stated it had targeted a senior Hezbollah figure, identified as Ahmad Fakih, in the strike. The mayor of Aitou, Joseph Trad, said the targeted building had been rented to displaced families who had fled fighting in southern Lebanon.

The strike drew international scrutiny. The United Nations human rights office called for an investigation, with spokesman Jeremy Laurence stating that the strike raised "real concerns" regarding compliance with international humanitarian law. Amnesty International conducted its own investigation and concluded that even if Israel's stated target, Fakih, was present, the number of civilians in the building "likely would make this an indiscriminate attack." Amnesty called for the strike to be investigated as a potential war crime.

As of the available reporting, no individuals have been named as charged, convicted, or otherwise adjudicated in connection with this strike, and calls for an international investigation into the incident remained pending.