Maya Gebeily

Our investigation into the Oct. 13 strike that killed our beloved Issam Abdallah, & wounded 6 other journalists, has found an Israeli tank fired 2x at them, with munition produced by Israel, from within Israel. The Israeli military killed Issam Abdallah. reuters.com/graphics/ISRAE…

Commenting on this strike, the Israeli military said “an explicit warning had been issued regarding this area” and that civilians should stay away. Human rights experts have said repeatedly that even if the Israelis declare an evacuation order for an area, it does not mean they can strike civilians. They still have a legal obligation to protect civilians, which journalists are.

🇱🇧 The Beirut Annunciation Orthodox College mourns the loss of Jad Kobeissi, a Grade 9 student, who tragically passed away following an Israeli airstrike that struck his building. (…) He was “a kind and vibrant soul whose warmth, humility, and smile touched all who knew him.”🕯️

Israel faces stiff Hezbollah resistance as it attempts to push deeper into Lebanon. Small units of Hezbollah fighters are fighting back against an expanding Israeli invasion of south Lebanon, w/intense clashes primarily concentrated in Khiam & border towns. The fate of Israel's 'buffer zone' will be determined by the ground fighting in the coming days. Our analysis below, w/@lorenzo_tondo theguardian.com/world/2026/mar…

GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) - Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings, displaced people and healthcare workers in Lebanon raise concerns under international law and may amount to war crimes, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday.

This is my chemistry professor. When we say Lebanon is a small country, we mean it. There is barely half a degree of separation between us all.

The tragic tally of civilian and humanitarian worker casualties in Lebanon continues to rise day after day. This grim accounting is more than numbers. It reflects a reality where the protection of civilians risks becoming an afterthought in military calculations. Every life lost is a stark reminder that international humanitarian principles must remain at the center of any action. The cost of ignoring them is measured not only in statistics, but in shattered communities and a deepening cycle of suffering. @RedCrossLebanon @DRM_Lebanon

Civil Defence blocks off traffic for fleeing residents of Tyre after Israel struck the main bridge into the city. There is one other bridge out of the city which has not yet been struck. If it is struck, the city would be effectively cut off from the north of the country.

Israel will conduct a “wide” attack targeting crossings over the Litani River, which risks by severing nearly 10% of Lebanon’s territory from the rest of the country. How will people maintain any access to food or aid, when these crossings are bombed? A humanitarian catastrophe

War is killing or injuring the equivalent of one classroom of children every day in Lebanon. Israeli strikes have killed 111 children and wounded more than 330 in the last two weeks -- nearly 30 kids every day. reuters.com/world/middle-e…

We spent a few days with a strong, kind woman & her family, who gave us an intimate look into how displaced Lebanese are holding tight to Ramadan traditions. Here, Ramadan doesn't just revolve around the sun & the call to prayer. War sets its own pace. reuters.com/investigates/s…

@BilalRKaafarani Dr. Bilal, I'm so deeply sorry for the loss of your family home. This is Maya Gebeily, with Reuters in Beirut. Our teams have been covering the civilian losses & other impact of Israel's strikes on Lebanon. We are keen to speak to you - please DM me if you feel ready to speak.

I have been deliberately silent on social media for a while. I use all my social media platforms to promote education & make dreams come true for young minds. I rarely post anything about family or politics. This morning, Israel demolished the building I have an apartment in. It took 22 years of my work here & 20 years of my wife’s work to own this apartment. This madness has to stop.

I am a US citizen & Surgeon who took care of the Boston Maraton Bombing victims in 2013. I paid for 7 years to own a small apartment in downtown #Beirut for my 3 kids to enjoy summers there. Today, #Israel reduced my dream home to rubble, with american weapons, paid by my taxes.

Can Lebanon’s health system survive a long war of attrition? The strain is already visible. In yesterday’s @mophleb update, the health sector had lost 38 health workers and 69 were wounded. Five hospitals had closed. Thirteen medical and ambulance centers were hit, 30 vehicles damaged, and emergency medical services attacked 53 times. And yet the system is still functioning. Paradoxically, part of the answer lies in two old Lebanese healthcare system problems: fragmentation and waste. Lebanon’s health system is a patchwork of public, private, and NGO providers, with more than one ambulance network. In normal times, that makes coordination harder. In war, it can help. When roads are cut, communication breaks down, supplies are delayed, and no central command can fully hold, many parts of the system can still work on their own. System waste matters too. Too many hospitals, overlapping services, duplicated capacity — all flaws in normal times. But in a long war, they become a buffer. When one part is hit, another can step in. This is not resilience by design. It is resilience forged through crises: messy, costly, but still standing.

عاملات من الجنسية السرلنكية يقومون في يوم عطلتهم بتوزيع الطعام على النازحين الذين يفترشون الطرقات #LBCINews

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz says today that the residents of southern Lebanon "will not return to their homes south of the Litani until the safety of the residents of the north [Israel] is guaranteed," as he announces ground operations in south Lebanon.

Batoul Hamdan had just finished iftar when Israel dropped a bomb on her home, killing her two small children, her siblings and her parents -- wiping out three generations instantly. Entire families are being wiped out by Israel's war in Lebanon. theguardian.com/world/2026/mar…

🇱🇧 A bit late to this, as I don't post as much as I used to here, but this is worth noting: The Total-led consortium relinquished Block 9, where they drilled an unsuccessful well in 2023. This leaves the recently awarded Block 8 as the only licensed block offshore Lebanon 👇

Here's what a few hours in the life of Lebanon's National Lifeline for Suicide Prevention (1564) sound like during #war time: - A 23-year-old displaced mother from South Lebanon (Khyem) calling from inside a car in Saida (now known as the transit city) - where she is living with her 3 young children because shelters are full. - An 88-year-old man displaced from Southern #Beirut calling to ask for basic assistance - A young man calling from Southern Beirut, currently under attack, calling because he and his mother had nowhere safe to go. - Another caller described feeling “مخنوق” — suffocated by the density, the noise, the uncertainty created by war. And in the middle of all of this: - A 16-year-old girl who attempted suicide - A 23-year-old struggling with addiction after a suicide attempt yesterday - A mother with cancer caring for a child with epilepsy while seeking help for her suicidal daughter - A man who was about to end his life with shattered glass before picking up the phone This is the daily reality of answering Lebanon’s National Lifeline (1564), where every call reflects the collision of our crises: war, displacement, poverty, chronic illness, addiction, and the silent toll on mental health. In contexts like #Lebanon, a crisis hotline is much more than an emotional support line. It becomes a first point of access to the entire health and social protection system. In a single shift today, our team provided: - suicide intervention and safety planning - emotional support during acute distress - referrals for psychiatric care and medication - shelter and humanitarian assistance referrals - support for displaced families - guidance for parents responding to suicide attempts - connection to emergency services and NGOs Behind each call is a trained responder, a volunteer, holding space for someone who may have nowhere else to turn, while silently living many of the same struggles themselves. In times of war, mental health emergencies do not pause. They multiply, and set the stage for the long term psychological consequences that follow conflict. Lebanon’s National Lifeline continues to operate 24/7, responding to hundreds of calls each month from people facing the most difficult moments of their lives. Every call our volunteers answer, is a proof of why this Lifeline is essential to our national infrastructure, and must be protected and sustained.

A damaged car near a damaged building in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a healthcare center, where, according to a Lebanese state news agency, multiple members of medical personnel were killed, in southern Lebanon, March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammad Yassine

The Middle East is becoming a laboratory for algorithm-driven warfare. Machine learning is accelerating the targeting cycle, increasing the risks to civilians in a region where the rules governing the use of force were already dangerously permissive. I wrote about these dangers last year in @WarOnTheRocks warontherocks.com/2025/04/the-mi… @CarnegieEndow