Lebanon families seek news of people seized by Israel

Relatives of Lebanese people seized by Israel during its last two wars with Hezbollah rallied outside the International Committee of the Red Cross in Beirut on Wednesday, demanding information about their loved ones.

Israel is estimated to have seized dozens of people in Lebanon since 2024, including Hezbollah fighters and civilians. Its military occasionally reports capturing Hezbollah fighters.

A Lebanese official said that in Lebanon's last round of negotiations with Israel, Beirut demanded the release of a first batch of people seized from Lebanese territory.

"We want (the ICRC) to go in and just reassure us on his health," said Ibtissam Hussein, a 54-year-old mother of three who held a picture of her husband, Waddah Younes.

Hussein said Younes, a Hezbollah member, was captured while fighting Israeli troops in Blida, southern Lebanon, in October 2024. The Israeli military released a video of Younes at the time being interrogated and said he was arrested inside a tunnel in the town.

Hussein said she received no news of him until Israel released four Lebanese in March last year, who confirmed he was alive but in poor health.

Lebanese authorities do not have a full list of those seized, the Lebanese official said. Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein al-Haj Hassan said before the start of this year's war that Lebanon had "20 prisoners at the hands of the enemy," at least nine of them "captured during the war on the battlefield," indicating they were Hezbollah fighters.

Anwar Yassine, founder of the Committee of Representatives of Prisoners and Released Detainees, estimated that at least 32 people had been seized, including 22 civilians. Yassine was jailed for nearly two decades by Israel during its occupation of southern Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s.

Zainab Bahja, whose husband Hassan Hammoud was seized after returning to his southern hometown during a 2024 ceasefire, urged Lebanon's government to treat the issue "as a priority." She said the Israeli military burned their home after seizing him.

"We need to know if they are still alive," Bahja said, asking the government to secure their release quickly.

Hezbollah attacked Israel in 2023 in support of Hamas in Gaza, leading to more than a year of hostilities that escalated into a full war in 2024. Two years later, Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in support of Iran by launching rockets at Israel. Lebanon says Israeli air strikes and a ground invasion have killed more than 4,300 people.

Hezbollah and its supporters reject the talks and the agreement with Israel, with the group refusing to lay down its arms.