Italian peacekeepers install a new Jesus statue in Debel

Italian soldiers installed a new statue of Jesus in Debel, a Christian village in southern Lebanon. The statue replaces an earlier one. The Israeli military had given the previous statue and then destroyed it with a sledgehammer. The destruction drew widespread outrage, and the new statue was put in place on April 23.

Debel is identified as a Christian village in the south of Lebanon. A statue of Jesus in a Christian village is a religious monument in a public or church setting. Peacekeepers are soldiers deployed under an international mandate rather than as a party invading on their own account. The report credits Italian soldiers with bringing the replacement.

The earlier statue had come from the Israeli military. Destroying it with a sledgehammer is a deliberate act, not weather damage. Widespread outrage means the destruction caused a broad public reaction. The Italian installation is the response described on the ground: a new statue in the same village.

Southern Lebanon has been a theater of the 2026 war between Israel and Hezbollah, with foreign peacekeepers also present. The report of the statue does not give the unit's formal name beyond Italian soldiers, and other coverage identifies them as peacekeepers. It does not say whether the new statue stands on the same plinth. It records the giver of the old statue, the destruction, and the replacement.

Religious images in a war zone can become symbols of who controls a town. The sledgehammer incident and the new installation are the two acts in this story. No casualty is attached to either act. The outrage is the public reaction the report records.

A new statue of Jesus now stands in Debel because Italian soldiers installed it. The previous statue, which the Israeli military had provided, was destroyed with a sledgehammer. That destruction caused widespread outrage. The replacement was reported on April 23.