Dozens of worshippers gathered on a sunlit stretch of land in Qlayaa village, southern Lebanon, on Wednesday to commemorate a Christian priest who was killed by Israeli fire two days ago.
Pallbearers carried a pristine white coffin carrying Father Pierre Al-Raai through the streets of Qlayaa, footage aired by the local Christian broadcaster, Noursat Network, showed. Nearby, parishioners dabbed their tears at his funeral procession outside Saint George’s church.
Father Al-Raai was one of 634 people who have been killed by Israel’s assault in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Disaster Risk Management Unit. The assault has brought mass displacement from Lebanon’s capital Beirut to villages on its southern border with Israel. Regional hostilities have forced 49 primary health care centers and five hospitals to close, the UN’s World Health Organization reported Wednesday.
Now, Israeli attacks on the fringes of Lebanon have drawn a handful of Christian communities into the violence. On Wednesday, the Israeli military issued a wave of new evacuation calls for six new villages in the south.
Pope Leo XIV mourned “civilian victims” including “many innocent children” as he paid tribute to the Lebanese priest on Wednesday.
“I am close to all the Lebanese people at this moment of grave trial,” Pope Leo said in a statement.
“Father Pierre was a true shepherd who always remained beside his people with the love and sacrifice of Jesus the Good Shepherd,” the Pope added. “May the Lord grant that the blood he shed may be a seed of peace for beloved Lebanon.”
A Red Cross paramedic who was killed by an Israeli strike while helping injured survivors from a separate attack in southern Tyre district was also buried on Wednesday.