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The body of a five-year old boy from the town of Maaysra in central Lebanon was discovered two months after he was announced as missing on 25 September, following an Israeli attack on the area that killed five other members of his family, including his mother. 

At the time, the Lebanese ministry of health reported that at least three were dead and nine wounded in a provisional report. 

However, Lebanese rescue teams recovered the body of the child, who has been identified as Amir Hussein, on Monday evening.  

According to L’Orient Today, Amir, the youngest of three siblings, had relocated with his family to Nabatieh in southern Lebanon during clashes between Israel and Hezbollah starting on 8 October 2023. 

As Israeli military actions escalated in southern Lebanon on 23 September, the family sought refuge in Maaysra, where he was killed.

Searches continue 

On Tuesday, civil defence officials also announced the "retrieval of of the body of a martyr" in Beirut's Basta al-Fawqa neighborhood, as well as "the continuation of the search for a missing person who is still among the missing."

Joseph Bou Chaaya, head of service and operations at the Lebanese Civil Defense reported last Saturday that the bodies of a Syrian family of four were recovered under the rubble of a residential building in Basta al-Fawqa, following an Israeli air attack on 23 November. 

The Lebanese health ministry reported at the time that at least 29 people were killed and 67 others injured as a result of the strike. 

Bou Chaaya informed L’Orient Today that one body is still believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.  

The search continues for Lebanon’s missing victims as the country seeks answers following the withdrawal of Israeli troops under a fragile ceasefire. 

Previously, Israeli attacks had obstructed rescue and ambulance crews from accessing the site, despite extensive efforts and appeals from international humanitarian organisations to evacuate the 20 residents thought to be trapped under the rubble there. 

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the war in Lebanon has resulted in over 4,000 deaths and 16,000 people wounded.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon began in October 2023, soon after Israel's war on Gaza began. Israel's indiscriminate war on the territory has killed at least 44,835 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.

However, the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor that over 10,000 Palestinian men and women remain missing under the rubble in Gaza, with no means to recover or properly bury them. They are not counted in the health ministry's death toll.