Newcastle family in 'living nightmare' after grandparents killed in Israeli airstrike on Lebanon

Hanah Arshad spoke to the grandchildren of two civilians killed in airstrikes in Lebanon.

A Newcastle family says they are in a "living nightmare" after their grandparents were killed at their home in Lebanon during an airstrike.Hussein Hamdan, 78, and Manar Abadi, 73, died in a strike by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on 28 February.

Shortly after the incident, a video of the airstrike was posted by the IDF on social media platform X.

Their grandchildren, Zahraa, Mohammed and Reem live in Newcastle and told ITV Tyne Tees they want to “hold the Israeli Defence Forces to account”.

The IDF says it "regrets the harm to the uninvolved" and "is making the many efforts to mitigate harm to the civilian population in Lebanon".

Speaking of the day of the strike, the family said their grandparents had only just returned home to the village of Kafra, weeks after fleeing to Beirut following ongoing clashes between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah.

“My grandparents were some of the most kindest people you’ll ever meet. Very generous, very good people. Nobody had a bad word to say about them,” Zahraa said.

The family said Hussein was a farmer and was known for creating baskets of free fruit and vegetables for people would could not afford to buy them.

Before Manar’s death, she was caring for a neighbour who had cancer and her three children.

Manar was anxious about returning but Hussein missed home so the "inseparable" pair planned to go back together for a few days.

It was on the same day they returned that their home was struck.

Mohammed said: “I could not believe it, I was telling myself it was a nightmare, and it wasn’t real.

"We rang my aunty, and she said they had found pieces and that they were gone. They recognised the pieces that they found belonged to them."

Soon after, the IDF posted a video of the incident on the social media platform, X.

It said: “Fighter jets recently attacked military infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the areas of Kafra and Tzadikin in southern Lebanon.”

Hussein and Manar were civilians with no ties to Hezbollah or any military organisation. There was no mention of civilian deaths in the IDF video.

Mohammed said: "They mentioned Hezbollah posts only, they didn’t mention it hit two elderly grandparents who were dearly loved by everyone in that community.

"To me it seemed like showing off what they’ve done, which is very difficult to see somebody you’re related to."

The IDF told ITV Tyne Tees that the family's home was "not the target of the strike".

In a statement, it said: "The IDF struck a military infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, which, like most of Hezbollah's military assets, was located in the heart of civilian area.

"The strike was not aimed at civilians and the home of the family in question was not the target of the strike.

"According to the IDF's examination, during the strike on the target, a significant and unexpected explosion occurred that caused a large fire at the site, which indicates the presence of explosive materials in the building.

"According to our examination, the uninvolved victims were present in a building close to the struck target and were incidentally injured as a result of fragments and the scattering of building parts in the area. The IDF regrets the harm to the uninvolved.

"Before the strike, precautions were taken in order to mitigate the harm to civilians due to the strike, including an inspection to make sure that there was no presence of civilians at the target.

"The IDF is making the many efforts to mitigate harm to the civilian population in Lebanon and will continue to act in order to protect the security of the State of Israel and its citizens."

In response to the statement from the IDF, the family said: “We are outraged by the response of the IDF, which not only pushes a false narrative, but is also offensive and hurtful.

“They minimise the deaths of our beloved grandparents by using words like ‘incidental’, ‘injuries’ and ‘harm’, they do not apologise for their actions, and falsely claim that our grandparents’ deaths were caused by ‘fragments and scattering of building parts in the area.’"

Reem, a university student, said it was difficult being so far away from what happened: "We couldn’t attend the funeral because it would be very dangerous. So, feeling very helpless and very far away."

Zahraa added: "There’s been several services in Lebanon to mark their death and pay their respects and it’s all been full.

"There’s been people queuing up to pay their respects, and that says a lot about them, they were very well respected."

“I think it is very easy to disconnect when you read things like this, especially something that is so far from you and doesn’t affect your daily lives, but everybody that dies in wars and conflict, they are a person with families, that loved them, they are somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister," said Reem.

“It is important not to regard them as collateral damage.”

The family have told us that they want to “hold the Israeli Defence Forces to account” and are seeking legal options to document their grandparents’ deaths.

“We would firstly like no more deaths to happen caused by the IDF, however that is not enough, we want accountability for the people who caused this,” Mohammed said.

Zahraa added: “We want to document and record what happened to them. We want Israeli to stop acting with such impunity.”

They are also calling on the UK government to stop the sales of arms to Israel, extending to what is currently ongoing in Gaza.

The family said: “The UK has an obligation to do so under international law where weapons sold are used to commit human rights violations.

“It is important that the government is transparent and publishes the legal advice it has received from its lawyers on the horrific situation in Gaza.”

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, said: “We keep advice on Israel’s adherence to International Humanitarian Law under review and will act in accordance with that advice.

“All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria.”

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every week Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…