On September 17 and 18, 2024, a coordinated series of attacks involving explosive devices concealed within pagers (type Gold Apollo AR924) and walkie-talkies struck Hezbollah members across Lebanon and Syria. These attacks, attributed to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, resulted in at least 42 deaths and over 3,500 injuries, marking one of the most significant security breaches for Hezbollah since the onset of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict in October 2023.

The explosions occurred around 3:30 PM local time on both days, with pagers emitting a sound to encourage users to pick them up, followed by detonation upon activation. The devices were distributed by Hezbollah and were intended for secure communication.

Casualties and Injuries:

At least 42 individuals, including 12 civilians and 30 Hezbollah members, were killed. Among the casualties were at least two children and two health workers.

Over 3,500 people were injured, with many requiring surgical interventions with numerous cases of amputations, particularly involving hands and faces, due to the nature of the explosions. Several victims suffered severe ocular trauma, with some losing vision in one or both eyes.

Approximately 3,000 individuals were hospitalized due to injuries from the explosions. Over 400 surgical procedures were performed, primarily addressing severe facial, ocular, and hand injuries.

Apparently in the pager attack, Israel specifically sent messages with very small text so that people would bring it close to their faces and be blinded. To the US media this is “amazing” “ingenuous” and “eye-catching.”

Hospital Response and Management:

Lebanon's healthcare system, already under strain from previous crises, faced overwhelming pressure during this event. Approximately 150 hospitals across the country received victims, leading to chaotic scenes in emergency departments. Hospitals in Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley were particularly affected.

Despite the challenges, the Ministry of Health commended the healthcare sector's preparedness and effective response. Medical professionals managed to provide care to those in need, especially for those with serious injuries.

Psychological Impact:

The traumatic nature of the injuries and the scale of the event had lasting psychological effects on both survivors and healthcare workers.

The mother of Ataa Mubarak, 28-year-old nurse killed in the pager attack, holds her daughter's framed portrait (Joao Sousa/MEE)

International Reactions:

The international community condemned the attacks as violations of international law. The United Nations and human rights organizations called for investigations into the incident. Israel did not officially comment on the attacks, but the incident has been widely attributed to Israeli intelligence operations. Wikipédia

This unprecedented use of everyday communication devices as weapons has raised concerns about the evolving nature of warfare and the targeting of civilian infrastructure.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta called Israel’s pager attack in Lebanon “terrorism.” “The ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days, and turn it into a war of terror, really, a war of terror—this is something new,” (...) “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism,”. Panetta was then asked if he believed members of the international community, including the United States, should condemn Israel’s actions: “I think it’s going to be very important for the nations of the world to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is an area that everybody has to focus on, because if they don’t try to deal with it now. Mark my word, it is the battlefield of the future”.

Perpetrators:

On October 2025, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen has publicly claimed that Israel operates a global sabotage and espionage network using booby-trapped and surveillance-manipulated equipment embedded across “all the countries you can imagine.” Speaking on The Brink podcast, Cohen said he personally helped develop the “pager method”—rigging communication devices for spying or detonation—initially used against Hezbollah and later expanded worldwide.

Cohen described a vast system of compromised commercial hardware used for intelligence gathering or causing physical harm, a tactic that former CIA director Leon Panetta has called terrorism. He also admitted Israel failed to deploy this system effectively in Gaza before October 7, calling it a major vulnerability ignored by Israeli security agencies.

The interview appears to confirm long-standing concerns by governments and cybersecurity experts about Israeli-linked surveillance and sabotage tools distributed through companies tied to Mossad and Unit 8200. The remarks follow comments by Prime Minister Netanyahu suggesting that anyone with a cellphone “owns a piece of Israel,” fueling further fears about the scale of these operations.

At the end of 2025, a new biography of Palantir co-founder Alex Karp reveals extensive Israeli use of Palantir’s technology before and after October 7. According to author Michael Steinberger, the Mossad was already using Palantir prior to the Gaza war, and after October 7 the Shin Bet and IDF urgently sought additional access. Demand was so high that Palantir sent engineers from London to Israel and expanded its Tel Aviv office to train Israeli intelligence analysts.

Steinberger writes that Palantir’s AI-driven software was used in multiple Israeli military raids in Gaza, as well as in 2024 operations in Lebanon that severely damaged Hezbollah’s leadership. The technology was also employed in Operation Grim Beeper, in which booby-trapped communication devices caused mass injuries among Hezbollah fighters.

Use in Zionist propaganda:

To restore the reputation of Israeli intelligence

Times of Israel and France 24 immedialtly published "Israel has scored a major intelligence success by apparently infiltrating a supply chain to cause the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of Hezbollah pagers in a blow for the Lebanese terror group and its Iranian backers, analysts say". The French "defense expert" Pierre Servent said "the latest action against Hezbollah would help Israeli intelligence services restore their reputation, which was badly dented by the October 7 massacre" (...) “The series of operations conducted over the past few months marks their big comeback, with a desire for deterrence and a message: ‘We messed up but we’re not dead,'”.

Mocking the death:

The day after the explosion of rigged pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon in mid-September 2024 — social media among some Israelis produced memes mocking those killed or injured.

As a lot of Israeli, even children, Israeli singer Hila Oz posts portraits of herself in a Purim costume mocking Israel's victims, with a pager, keffiyeh, and fake wounds.

A trophy to share with allies and a tool of terror normalization:

Benjamin Netanyahu presented US President Trump with a golden pager mounted on a wooden stand during Trump’s visit to Washington in a meeting at the White House on February 4, 2025, commemorating Israel’s terrorism warfare in Lebanon. Trump called it “a brilliant operation” and gave Netanyahu a photograph inscribed, “Bibi, a great leader.” The pager was described as commemorating “the operation” that struck members of Hezbollah. The plaque read: “To President Donald J. Trump, our greatest friend and greatest ally.

In a release about the gift, Netanyahu's office said the golden pager "symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turnaround in the war and the starting point for breaking the spirit" of Hezbollah. (...) This strategic operation expresses the power, technological superiority and cunning of the State of Israel against its enemies," the statement added.

A symbol of revenge against opponents:

Since early 2025, Betar US has explicitly used the memory of the 2024 pager-explosion attacks (on Hezbollah) to threaten individuals and groups — especially pro-Palestinian activists, or critics of Israel. For example: the group published a “deport alert” for a student at Cornell, and publicly urged its supporters to “give [them] a pager.” Critics have described this as a direct death threat — not just rhetorical intimidation. For example: the Jewish writer Peter Beinart publicly said that Betar’s call to “give him a pager” felt like a death threat in light of what happened in Lebanon.

A looming threat over every user of technological products: