Bashir Nadaff lies in a hospital bed far from home, his skin pierced all over by shrapnel and debris from an Israeli attack on his village in southern Lebanon.
The father was outside his home in the Christian town of Débel with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in late March, when Israeli tanks rolled in and started firing, he said.
“Bullets started raining down on us,” he said.
“We hid in a small room downstairs as the gunfire continued.
“We stayed like that for about 45 minutes.”
Mr Nadaff said he used his body to protect his wife and daughter as his house was repeatedly hit with tank and gunfire.
“When the shell hit, it struck the wall I was leaning against, not just the room. I stayed conscious, but I couldn’t see or hear. I was bleeding heavily,” he said.
“At that moment, I told my wife and daughter I was going to die.”
Bashir Nadaff’s skin was pierced all over by shrapnel and debris from an Israeli attack. (ABC News: Chérine Yazbeck)
Mr Nadaff’s home is inside the southern Lebanon zone, where Israel launched a ground invasion and intense aerial bombing campaign in early March, after the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Tehran.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of southern Lebanese residents have been ordered by Israel to leave their homes, or risk injury or death.
But thousands of them are refusing to leave, saying they would rather stay put despite the risks — including residents of Christian villages that are not affiliated with Hezbollah.
As previous conflicts have shown, if they flee their homes, some of them may never return.
Villages under siege
Residents of Débel, about six kilometres north of the Israel-Lebanon border, say the Israeli military is now blocking the only usable road in and out of their village, and conditions inside the town are deteriorating.
“We cannot leave, we cannot move, we are trapped,” said municipality president Akl Naddaf.
“We no longer have access to drinking water.
“We had an artesian well, but the area where it is located is now occupied by Israel. We cannot reach it.
“The situation is critical.”
Christians in the town of Rmeich near the Israel-Lebanon border are refusing to leave their homes.
(Reuters: Aziz Taher)
The IDF did not respond to the ABC’s questions about the attack in Débel by deadline.
It has previously said it does not target civilians and that its strikes target Hezbollah militants and their infrastructure.
But in late March, Israel said it would totally seize and control southern Lebanon up to the Litani River — about 30 kilometres north of the border — to create a “buffer zone” against Hezbollah, equating to about 10 per cent of Lebanon’s territory.
Israel’s defence minister also said his military plans to demolish all homes in border villages, to create a new so-called ‘security buffer zone’, like the ones it created in Gaza.
“All homes in Lebanese villages near the border will be destroyed — in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referencing two cities that were effectively razed during the Israel-Gaza war.
Just two kilometres from the Israel-Lebanon border is the Christian village of Rmeich.
Speech therapist Teresa Touma, 24, is among those determined to remain in their homes.
“I stayed because leaving feels like giving up everything that defines me,” she said.
“Yes, I’m afraid. But staying is also a way of holding on, holding on to who we are, to where we belong.
“We are not just people passing through. We are rooted here. It’s our land. It’s our identity.
“And if we leave it, then we are leaving our identity.”
Teresa Touma is determined to remain in her home in south Lebanon. (Supplied)
Many villages in southern Lebanon suffered widespread destruction during the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out in late 2023 shortly after the war in Gaza commenced.
By late 2024, more than 1 million Lebanese had been displaced, and some have still not returned home.
The US helped broker a ceasefire in November that year, but Israeli troops remained in the country, and Lebanon’s army said Israeli air strikes continued.
The IDF said its strikes were on Hezbollah targets, but in October last year, the UN said more than 100 civilians had been killed during the ceasefire, including 16 children.
‘We’re under bombardment’: Christians call for help
Israel’s military has not stated whether Christian villages will be spared demolition or forced displacement during this war.
But in recent days, the Lebanese Army, which had been providing safe passage for residents to get food and medical supplies from nearby villages, pulled out of the area.
Inside Rmeich, the parish priest Father Najib al-Amil issued a public plea for the state to step in and protect the village and its residents.
“Please do not leave us,” he called on the army.
“Either we all die and our village is lost, or we all live and our villages survive.”
“On the outskirts of the town … we’re under bombardment.
“And even if someone just went after their sheep or goats to get them from the field, [Israel will] bomb them.
“For that reason, we don’t dare go outside the town.”
Father Najib al-Amil called on the government and army to step in and protect the village and its residents. (Supplied)
In the south, which has lived through Israeli invasions before, the latest war has sparked fears of another long-term occupation.
Many of its older residents distinctly remember the Israeli occupation in 1982, which in some parts of southern Lebanon did not end until 2000.
Ms Touma sits inside her lounge room and listens to the sounds of Israeli bombs nearby.
She is fearful that one could soon hit her village and says she is putting her faith in God.
“And what scares us the most is how quickly everything can change,” she said.
“In one moment, you are speaking, the next moment, everything could be gone.
“The future, honestly, it feels unclear, almost blurred.
“But despite everything, there is a small part of us that refuses to stop hoping because without hope, it would be impossible to stay.”
Rmeich is one of many Christian villages in Lebanon’s south, close to the Israeli border. (Supplied)
Israeli strikes have killed nearly 1,300 people in Lebanon since the conflict began last month, while more than one million have been displaced.
Mr Nadaff is now recovering in a hospital in Beirut with severe injuries, including shrapnel in his head and throughout his body.
He said he still doesn’t know why his village was attacked, or if he will ever be able to return to his home.
“I’ve built my entire life in Débel, everything I have is there,” he said.
“Now I’m starting to fear that we were targeted for a reason.
“The thought that we might leave and never come back — I can’t accept it.”