Couple discovers Lebanon home destroyed by Israel from satellite image

"It's a catastrophe... for all of us, not only my family, but every single family that lives in that town."

Joe Elias and his wife Diana have not been able to return to their home in Qouzah, a predominantly Christian village in southern Lebanon, since renewed fighting between Hezbollah and Israel began in early March.

When BBC Verify reported that Qouzah was among several villages in southern Lebanon where buildings had been demolished after Israeli forces invaded, the Elias family got in touch. Satellite imagery later obtained independently by both BBC Verify and the family showed the house they had built had been flattened and several of their olive trees destroyed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said "five anti-tank missiles were launched towards troops" from the co-ordinates of the Elias house on 6 March, injuring four soldiers. It did not provide any evidence or details when asked, but said it had "struck several military targets" - including Elias' home - "to prevent further attacks against IDF troops".

The renewed fighting began after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, in retaliation for the killing of Iran's supreme leader. Since then, Israel's forces have levelled buildings and homes across southern Lebanon as part of its campaign against the armed group - which international law experts say may amount to a war crime.

Visual evidence analysed by BBC Verify shows controlled demolitions have taken place in at least 12 border villages and towns since the beginning of March. The IDF says that Hezbollah is embedded in civilian areas in the region and that it operates in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict.

"[The village] is strategically located 750 metres above the ocean" on the top of a mountain, Elias said. "You can see 360 degrees all the way to Haifa in Israel."

Elias and his wife have been staying in their main home east of Beirut since February, but their neighbours in Qouzah told them they fled after Hezbollah entered the village.

"They just left with nothing, no food, no support. The ones that have cars, they went with the cars. The ones that do not have cars, they went walking," he said.

More than 1.2 million people are estimated to have been displaced across Lebanon since 2 March, according to figures by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

BBC Verify analysis of satellite imagery shows the IDF destroyed nearly a third of buildings in the main residential area of Qouzah between 3 March and 16 April.

Both Hezbollah and the IDF say buildings in the village have been used by each other's forces.

The IDF published a video which it says shows Hezbollah fighters climbing into the grounds of a building, which BBC Verify located to the centre of Qouzah. While other verified videos shared on a Hezbollah military Telegram channel showed what it described as Hezbollah drone attacks on Israeli positions both inside the village and in neighbouring towns.