Israel’s illegal war against Lebanon leaves 250k without proof they owned their destroyed homes

As Israel’s brutal expansionist campaign in Lebanon continues with absolute impunity, Lebanese officials warn the destruction could leave up to 250,000 people unable to prove they own homes that have been – or will likely soon be – demolished.

Aerial imagery over Bint Jbeil has fuelled this growing alarm, appearing to show the destruction of sites holding civil records and land deeds – effectively erasing “the paper infrastructure of a city’s legal existence.”

The Intercept report that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) targeted attacks have left Bint Jbeil without a notary. Government buildings have been razed to the ground, and Lebanese citizens are finding their homes absolutely destroyed. When those homes also held key documents proving ownership, their destruction has left local civilians with little ability to prove what they have lost.

This settler-colonialist military invasion has been unfolding, with devastating consequences, for months now – with precious little pushback from Israel’s Western backers in the US and UK:

Israel is blowing up entire civilian homes and residential blocks in Bint Jbeil, South Lebanon, and proudly sharing the footage itself.

Cheerfully broadcasting its war crimes to the world.

No global outrage. No condemnation. No accountability. pic.twitter.com/U7FophdiTt

— sarah (@sahouraxo) May 1, 2026

Lebanon part of Zionists ‘Greater Israel’

Israel has long been making its expansionist agenda clear to wider society, with Western governments ignoring Israeli politicians genocidal and murderous statements that show a clear intent to wipe out Lebanese infrastructure in the South. The Lebanese government largely appears to be a mere spectator doing little to challenge Israel and the West, recently blaming Iran for Israel’s brutal bombardments on Lebanon.

In the Bint Jbeil district, 36 villages have been among the worst affected by Zionist colonialism, with entire communities forced out before their villages were then flattened by Israeli airstrikes.

Lebanese citizens now describe this as an intentional tactic to clear southern Lebanon, while Israeli officials say the operations aim to keep northern Israel safe from rockets fired by Hezbollah in response to attacks on Palestinian, Iranian, and Lebanese civilians.

According to The Intercept, a mukhtar (local official) has confirmed that civil registry documents up to 2020 have been digitised, though this offers limited reassurance.

That still leaves a six-year gap in which records may have been lost amid bureaucratic breakdown and weak enforcement of registration rules, delaying the creation of a full digital record of property ownership.

An Israeli air strike hit the town of Faroun in Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon. New forced displacement orders were issued following Israeli bombardment throughout towns and villages in the south.

🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/EFvHSAMo0C pic.twitter.com/FuPG9CVl1y

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 14, 2026

Red Cross ignored by Israeli forces

Efforts are being made continuously to gain access to the site of Bint Jbeil’s Grand Serail. Still standing according to aerial footage, it is a civil authority building which holds land deeds belonging to thousands of families from more than 20 villages.

Since Israel’s ground invasion began, with the IOF taking more and more land in the south, Lebanese authorities have been unable to retrieve the documents.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been the medium through which these requests can be put into place, but even they are still awaiting permission from the aggressor state’s so-called Mechanism Committee.

This committee is responsible for administering the Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire agreement, and have refused to comment on this unanswered request to an Intercept journalist.

In a statement provided to The Intercept, once again, the IOF is attempting to suggest that this civil infrastructure housed Hezbollah’s military assets:

IDF directives permit the execution of clearing operations of structures used for military purposes, or when there is an essential operational necessity that justifies the full or partial demolition of a structure, in accordance with international law.

💢 REPORT | Israel Violating Ceasefire on Day One, Killing 3 Civilians and Pushing Into Villages in Lebanon

In the first 24 hours after the U.S.-Iran deal was formally announced, Israel has repeatedly violated the U.S.-backed Lebanon ceasefire, killing civilians, shelling towns,… pic.twitter.com/RHa3iAHl52

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) June 15, 2026

Destruction of civilian infrastructure

Under international law, military forces may destroy civilian infrastructure only when doing so serves a specific military objective and is necessary to achieve it.

Nevertheless, Israeli ministers have done little to hide the purpose of their invasions, making it abundantly clear that they wish to destroy and erase existence of Lebanese villages and infrastructure along the Lebanese border.

Monitoring the Grand Serail by satellite imagery, Lebanese finance minister Yassine Jaber told the Intercept:

The walls are still standing mostly, but satellites don’t have keys to doors. We don’t know what happened inside.

Were the records destroyed? Were they confiscated? The truth is still behind the front lines.

They further told of how they have been attempting to retrieve the vital records for four weeks – whether through the ICRC or UNIFIL – but despite these appeals, the area remains a “forbidden zone”.

Sally Aoun of the ICRC Lebanon stated:

The ICRC supported the Ministry of Interior in the evacuation of some civil registries in southern Lebanon at the beginning of the escalation.

It was not possible to support the evacuation in Bint Jbeil because of ongoing hostilities.

Documents have been retrieved from a number of districts, such as Marjayoun and Hasbaya, thanks to the courage of civil servants risking their lives under bombardment. But Bint Jbeil remains untouchable and unreachable for Lebanese authorities and humanitarian agencies.

Tyre is another district under severe attack, with women and children amongst those murdered by Israel, who likewise attempt to justify their crimes by suggesting Hezbollah command centers were the target:

ISRAELI TERRORISTS just bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Tyre. Civilians, women and children were murdered and injured.
Israeli spokesperson issued a bombing warning for entire area before this, and later claimed attacking a command center for the resistance! How the ####… pic.twitter.com/mnxIYgFgVn

— Hadi Hoteit | هادي حطيط (@HadiHtt) May 27, 2026

Bint Jbeil is mostly destroyed now, as this video below highlights:

🇱🇧❗️Sur la route d’une « terre brûlée » au Sud-Liban entre Beit Yahoun et Kounine dans le district martyrisé par Israël de Bint Jbeil. pic.twitter.com/8eb0qt7tkX

— LibanVision by JMD (@DruartJeanMich1) June 16, 2026

Mitigating efforts to risk further loss of land and property to Zionists

Like many people around the world, Lebanese citizens have often delayed formally registering land purchases, whether because of the exhausting bureaucracy involved or, in some cases, to avoid taxes. Now, however, the destruction of records threatens to strip countless people of land they have lived on for years.

Abu Hassan is among the thousands caught in this disastrous uncertainty. He fled his home without his paperwork and later learned that the notary’s office that held his records had been destroyed, leaving little hope that his bill of sale has survived.

Speaking to the Intercept, he heartbreakingly said:

The house I built stone by stone is dust now. And the paper that says it was mine has gone to God.

Jaber highlighted the devastating consequences of this torched paperwork:

This will create a major legal problem in proving ownership.

Who owns what? Who protects the buyer’s right if the paper contract has disappeared?

Recognising how this risk could snowball further, thus affecting even more Lebanese citizens, he is currently transferring all documents to an online “digital vault” which could take six months to complete.

However, once completed, it will provide security for crucial documentation “that no shell can reach and no fire can erase.”

Featured image via the Canary