Israeli civilian contractor killed by Hezbollah drone in Lebanon

A 19-year-old witnessed his father’s death in a deadly drone strike in southern Lebanon.

By World Israel News Staff

An Arab citizen of Israel was killed in southern Lebanon after an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah struck while he was working as a civilian contractor for Israel’s Defense Ministry.

Amer Hujirat, 44, was operating heavy engineering equipment to demolish Hezbollah infrastructure near the town of Aitaroun, close to the group’s stronghold of Bint Jbeil, when the attack occurred.

Hujirat’s 19-year-old son, who was not named by Hebrew-language media, was working alongside him. Speaking to Ynet, he described witnessing the fatal moment.

“It’s very difficult — I saw my father killed in front of my eyes,” the son said. “It was shocking.”

The two were employed by a company contracted by Israel’s Defense Ministry to carry out demolition work in southern Lebanon. He claimed they had not been provided with adequate protection by the Israel Defense Forces.

“At first, a tank was with us,” Hujirat recalled, saying that after a few minutes, it repositioned and moved almost out of sight, “behind a house.”

Hujirat said the pair had been working for about 90 minutes before he noticed a drone approaching.

“Suddenly, I saw a small, fast drone hovering behind an excavator,” he said. “It flew low and focused its camera on us. We tried to run, but the drone chased us and exploded.”

Hujirat’s son was lightly wounded by shrapnel and evacuated to Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat for medical treatment.

Family members described Hujirat as a generous and compassionate man. His cousin, Ahmed, told Ynet that he was widely known for helping others.

“Amer had a good heart. He was always there for people and gave everything he could to anyone who needed help,” he said. “We hope we’ll have the strength to cope with this disaster.”

The deadly incident comes amid renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, during which the terror group has increasingly relied on first-person view (FPV) drones—small, maneuverable devices equipped with explosives.

These drones are relatively inexpensive to produce and have become a growing threat to Israeli forces and personnel operating near the border.