Najwa refused to leave her village so Israeli troops shot her in her home

A son dug out his elderly mother’s tiny, black shoes from a pile of rubble, which used to be her home. He held the shoes gently, then tenderly kissed their tips.

His mother’s name was Najwa Ghacham, a fiercely independent woman. For a year and three months, Najwa refused to leave her home in the southern Lebanese village of Yaroun, despite heavy Israeli bombardment and fighting around her. 

“She loved her home so much,” her son, Nour Ghacham, 48, told Middle East Eye. “It was clear she cherished it.” 

He pulled out his phone to show a photo of what her home once was. It was two storeys, made from white stones, with terracotta shingles and sky blue shutters. A purple-flowering bush spilt over her front yard gate, and a pine tree sprouted through the pavement, its branches stretching above her roof. 

The mayor and his wife, Laila Tahfa, 53, live next door. Tahfa said she remembered watching Najwa spend hours sweeping her doorstep and adjacent pavement, or caring for her garden. 

“Her home was like a kingdom to her, nothing outside seemed to matter,” Tahfa told MEE. 

She recounted her “lovely memories” with Najwa, whom she said she knew for many years. “At around 70 years old, [Najwa] remained spirited and was always eager to share stories,” she said. 

When the war erupted, Tahfa said they tried to get her leave for her safety, but she always refused. “She would say, ‘I don’t hear any [bombings], I just want to be in my home’,” she said. 

At one point, 28-year-old medic Mohammad Salman, and his team of rescue workers, managed to convince Najwa to leave - but she returned shortly afterwards. 

“I swear to God, she went back walking,” he told MEE in January. 

‘They didn’t need to shoot her’ 

Salman was among those who would periodically check on Najwa during the war, delivering food, water and other essentials. 

However, after the ceasefire began on 27 November, Israeli troops remained in Yaroun. Salman said that each time they tried to enter the village to reach her, Israeli troops opened fire, blocking their entry for 30 days. 

When they finally managed to enter on 27 December, Salman found Najwa dead in her home. He said she had been shot three times, and her body was covered in bruises as if she had been beaten or stepped on. 

“I saw the body,” he said, “She’s an old lady. They didn’t need to shoot her.” 

Salman helped transport her body to Tebnine Government Hospital, the closest major hospital to the village. 

A medical report from the hospital, shared with MEE, said the Lebanese Red Cross brought Najwa after “being exposed to Israeli aggression”.

“She died as a result of injuries to the head, abdomen and chest, and an open fracture in the left thigh,” the report said. 

MEE asked the Israeli army for comment on Najwa’s death, but it did not respond.

‘She loved the land’ 

Najwa’s son, Nour, sifted through the rubble of his childhood home in Yaroun. In one corner of the pile, he spotted an oven grate. He said the area was once the kitchen, where he used to sit for hours with his mother. 

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“When she finished cooking, she would clean, and then enjoy sitting around for a long time,” he recounted. 

Nour left Yaroun to Venezuela with his two brothers and father in 1991, when the Israelis were occupying the village. He was only 14 at the time, he said, but still remembers the Israeli Merkava tank he could see from his balcony. 

However, Najwa refused to leave. “She was someone from the heart of the country, she didn’t want to live outside [Lebanon],” he said. He would return periodically with his father to visit her.

“She was always busy,” he said, tending to not only household tasks but also her beloved olive trees. Every year, Nour said Najwa would produce about eight large jugs of olive oil. 

“She tended to her olive trees, and they grew large, and she would harvest them,” he said, “She loved the land.”  

‘We’ll come back tomorrow’ 

Yaroun’s mukhtar (a local official responsible for records), Mohammed Chahine, 51, stood outside the rubble of Najwa’s home. He said he grew close to Najwa during the war, when he would bring her food and other household items. 

Soon after 8 October 2023 - when Israel and Hezbollah began fighting in Lebanon - many of Najwa’s relatives in Yaroun fled for Beirut, and were scared to return. 

So, Chahine would knock on Nawja’s door, a pen and notepad in hand, to write down what she needed. She asked for meat and vegetables, he said - but most importantly, requested boxes of wafer cookies. 

“I used to bring her five or six boxes every month,” he said, smiling. “She lived off tea and cookies.” 

The fighting and air strikes intensified in Yaroun after 23 September, when Israel escalated its attacks on the country, preventing Chahine from visiting Najwa. But, he said, “I always had this feeling she was alive because she knows how to live in situations like this.” 

Over two months later, the day the ceasefire went into effect, Chahine rushed to check on Najwa. 

“Luckily, we found her alive,” he said, “We thought [the war] was over. We told her, ‘we'll come back tomorrow’.” 

But tomorrow never came.

“The second day, we came to Yaroun and they started shooting at us, they wouldn’t let us in the village,” Chahine said. 

Then, the Israeli attacks on Yaroun intensified, and Chahine rushed to have Najwa evacuated. He contacted the Red Cross and UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force stationed in south Lebanon, informing them a civilian was trapped in the village. 

On their first attempt to enter the village, they were blocked by Israeli fire. Two weeks later, they made it to Najwa, but only to find her shot in her home. 

Chahine said his time with Nawja was brief, and their conversations rarely went deeper than essential items and wafer cookies. Still, her death has left an emptiness inside him. 

“I feel like there’s something missing inside me,” Chahine said. “I really miss her. I hope she's in a good place now. I’m sure she is because she never hurt anyone.” 

‘The news hit like a thunderbolt’ 

The story of Najwa's death haunts Yaroun’s villagers.

“The Israelis knew from day one that she was living there, by herself, and they didn’t attack her or do anything,” Chahine said. 

“I don’t know why they would walk into her house, beat her and shoot her to death,” he said. “She was no harm to anybody.” 

Najwa’s neighbour, Tahfa, said “the news [of her death] hit like a thunderbolt. It was so hard because we were waiting for her to come out in good shape, and send our greetings to her.” 

Tahfa also pondered why the Israelis would enter her house. “She didn’t have a weapon, there were no members of the resistance [Hezbollah],” she said. “Why did they kill her in the middle of her home?” 

'Imagine standing at the entrance to your land, watching them destroy your house, along with the memories of your children and family inside it'

- Laila Tahfa, neighbour

During the 60-day ceasefire period - when Najwa was killed - Israel pummelled Yaroun with air strikes. Tahfa said that 90 percent of buildings in the village were completely destroyed, most of the destruction occurring during those two months.

The remaining 10 percent of houses in the village have also been damaged, many of them burned, Tahfa added.

After the ceasefire period expired, Israel said it would remain at five strategic points in southern Lebanon “indefinitely”.

Tahfa’s home was destroyed on 9 February. Israeli troops remained stationed in the village after the 26 January withdrawal deadline set by the ceasefire agreement. 

Israel finally withdrew from Yaroun on 18 February, but still remains stationed in five other positions along the border. A week later, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the army would be “staying indefinitely” in a buffer zone in south Lebanon, established through the widespread destruction of border villages like Yaroun.

“Imagine standing at the entrance to your land, as if in front of a screen, watching them destroy your house, along with the memories of your children and family inside it,” Tahfa said.

Najwa’s olives

Back at the ruins of Najwa’s home, her son reflected on his childhood. “This country, family and everything around me in Yaroun feels like home. I attended school, played outside and kicked a ball around here - simple, natural moments,” Nour said.  

In the garage, he spotted a chunk of stone where his brother had graffitied his name the year they left for Venezuela, in 1991. He had also written “Yaroun” beside his name. 

Nour continued to his backyard, wandering through his mother’s treasured olive trees. A few had been destroyed, likely in the blast that also levelled Nawja’s home. Those still standing were overgrown, their branches dragging and covered in white dust. 

“If only my mother were here, if only she were alive, she would have cleaned and tended to the trees. She would say, ‘Oh, what a lovely garden!’,” he said.

“Who will care for it now? They [the Israelis] took everything away.”