BARJA, Lebanon (Reuters) – In a devastating airstrike that struck a building sheltering displaced families, at least 30 people, including many women and children, have been confirmed dead, according to local rescue workers and officials.

The attack, which occurred late Tuesday night, has left residents of this small town, located 30 kilometers south of Beirut, in shock and mourning.

Moussa Zahran, a 54-year-old local, sat amidst the wreckage of his bomb-damaged living room, visibly shaken by the loss of his neighbours who had fled south Lebanon to escape Israeli airstrikes. Tragically, their attempt to find safety closer to the capital ended in disaster.

“They fled death, but it caught up with them here,” Zahran said, his voice heavy with grief. The apartment block, which had been home to three displaced families, was struck while they were seeking shelter from the ongoing violence.

Most of the victims were women and children who had relocated to Barja after Israel intensified its air campaign against Hezbollah in late September.

According to an initial report from Lebanon’s health ministry, the bombing resulted in 20 fatalities, though a civil defense official confirmed that 30 bodies had been recovered from the rubble.

The victims, many of whom were relatives of Zahran’s neighbours, had moved into the building approximately six weeks ago. Zahran, who had provided them with mattresses and chairs, said all of them perished in the attack.

“We are all in shock. I’m so sad,” he added, his feet bandaged from the strike’s aftermath. Zahran’s own family was not spared. His wife and son were injured, with both still hospitalized after suffering severe wounds.

Zahran himself described the horror of the moment, recalling how he was preparing to go to bed when the blast rocked his home.

“I was kissing my son when everything blew up. Flames reached my legs and the soles of my feet burned,” Zahran said, his voice trembling. “My wife and son are wounded. It’s all been so sudden.”

As rescue teams work around the clock to retrieve survivors, the situation remains unclear. While some reports have indicated the possibility of more victims trapped under the rubble, conflicting accounts from neighbours about how many people were in the building at the time of the strike have complicated efforts to determine the full extent of the tragedy.

A rescuer shared harrowing details of the recovery operation, stating, “We found children’s bodies on the stairs and body parts everywhere.”

Among the wreckage, schoolbags filled with clothes and textbooks were found, suggesting that the victims had been children, many of them from displaced families.

Barja, a town once home to around 35,000 people, now hosts more than 27,000 displaced by the conflict, including thousands who fled the southern regions of Lebanon in the wake of Israeli bombardments.

The mayor of Barja, Hassan Saad, confirmed that the town had already endured an earlier Israeli strike on October 12, which killed four people and wounded 18.

The Lebanese security source later confirmed that the latest airstrike targeted a Hezbollah operative who had ties to one of the displaced families. Following the attack, Barja’s crisis unit issued an urgent appeal for civilians to evacuate if they were at risk.

Mahmoud, a retired soldier who had also fled the south, expressed frustration with the situation.

“There is no armed presence here; we should have felt safe, but suddenly everything has changed,” he said, pointing out that Israel’s actions were intended to spread fear and division.

The attack highlights the precarious situation in southern Lebanon, where civilians continue to bear the brunt of the ongoing Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah, while displaced families struggle to find refuge from the violence.