The killing of Elio Abou Hanna highlights Lebanon’s rising violence, unchecked weapons, and the state’s fragile authority
It was just past midnight in Beirut when Elio Ernesto Walid Abou Hanna drove through the narrow streets of Shatila. The young chemistry graduate from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik had likely taken a wrong turn, following a shortcut suggested by Google Maps, according to his father’s account.
Local reports say that Elio came upon an unexpected checkpoint while driving through the area. Startled, he tried to speed away. Moments later, a shot was fired, and a bullet struck him, causing his car to crash into a nearby shop. He died before help could arrive.
Incidents like this, where innocent lives are lost to unchecked violence, are not new in Lebanon. Yet Elio’s killing reignited public debate about the situation inside Palestinian camps, areas the Lebanese state has long avoided intervening in. These camps, originally meant to offer refuge to Palestinians displaced from their homeland by Zionist forces in 1948, have instead become spaces of neglect and marginalization. Decades of isolation, poverty, and the absence of state oversight have allowed insecurity and illicit activity to take root, leaving the camps dangerous not only for outsiders but also for the Palestinian communities struggling to survive within them.
On social media, reactions quickly took a sectarian turn. Some framed the killing through a religious lens, while others resorted to mockery or blame, deepening already tense divides. But experts agree that beyond the online noise, the core issue remains the same: a government absent where it is needed most, allowing impunity and chaos to persist.
The Supposed Disarming
A month ago, the Lebanese army had begun implementing the fourth phase of a plan to collect weapons from Palestinian camps across the country. On that Saturday, five truckloads of arms from Ain al-Hilweh camp near Saida and three from Beddawi camp in the north were handed over to the army. The weapons belonged to factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Earlier phases of the plan had already seen similar handovers from other camps — Burj al-Barajneh, Mar Elias, and Shatila in Beirut, as well as Rashidieh, al-Bass, and Burj al-Shamali in Tyre. The initiative was framed as a sign of trust and coordination between the Lebanese state and the Palestinian leadership. Yet, despite these symbolic gestures, many observers questioned how far such limited and intermittent disarmament efforts could go in changing realities on the ground and improving living conditions inside the camps.
Lawyer Diala Chehade told NOW that Elio’s death is not only an individual crime but as a symptom of a broader breakdown in state authority.
“In a state governed by law, there should be no weapons except in the hands of the state,” she told NOW, stressing that Lebanon’s arms laws and the penal code already criminalize both possession of military-grade weapons and carrying a firearm without a licence.
Chehade pointed to the persistence of informal “security squares” and armed checkpoints across the country, including inside Palestinian camps, and warned that recent, sporadic efforts to collect weapons have not been sustained. The reality on the ground, she said, shows that these interventions were neither steady nor comprehensive. The presence of armed groups — whether Palestinian, Lebanese, or partisan — has created parallel security structures that answer to no official authority. “These security squares have fallen under the control of militias or other actors,” she explained, noting that some Lebanese parties also maintain de facto security zones.
“We are not talking about isolated cases of self-defense,” Chehade added. “We are talking about checkpoints set up on someone else’s land, where weapons are used to kill whoever crosses, for one reason or another.”
Such checkpoints, she said, must be dismantled and replaced by posts under official security control. Unlicensed weapons should be surrendered, and even licensed ones should be revoked if misused.
Turning Point?
Political figures and parties were quick to reiterate the government’s failure and the need to place all arms under state control. The Free Patriotic Movement called it “the worst example of Palestinian arms running unchecked in the camps” and urged the government to hold those responsible accountable and place all weapons under official control.
Samy Gemayel of the Kataeb party described the shooting as “an insult to Lebanon’s sovereignty and the blood of its citizens,” adding that anyone justifying weapons outside the state was complicit.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also weighed in, noting that seven suspects had been arrested and investigations were ongoing. He stressed that weapons held by armed groups in the camps “pose a danger to Lebanon’s stability and the safety of its people, and do not serve the Palestinian cause.”
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Army announced the arrest of six members of the Palestinian National Security Forces from Shatila camp in connection with the killing of Elio.
Ramez Dimashkieh, chairman of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, explained that the issue of weapons in the camps is longstanding and complex. He noted that while some weapons have been collected in previous campaigns, many remain in circulation, often linked to drug networks and illicit trade, and are not under state control.
“Some checkpoints have been operating under the authority of Palestinian security, but others are effectively outside any formal oversight,” he said. According to Dimashkieh, these informal posts sometimes function as commercial or smuggling hubs, dealing in both drugs and weapons, largely because state authority is absent from the camps. He added that removing weapons from these groups is difficult and would require significant pressure and coordinated efforts between Lebanese authorities and Palestinian leadership.
“It is not a matter of days,” he said. “This process [disarmament] could take months, even up to a year. There must be coordination between the two sides to ensure accountability and effective handover of weapons. This is only the beginning — by next year, the state needs to intervene and regulate the camps more effectively.”
Lebanon is entering a particularly delicate and fragile phase, with insecurity spreading across the country. The government, led by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, had inspired high hopes with promises of disarmament and the restoration of state control. Still, those promises now appear to be slowly unraveling. Civilians continue to die from Israeli strikes. Just days after Elio’s death, Ibrahim Salameh was killed by Israeli gunfire in the border village of Blida, attacked while he slept peacefully in the municipality building. Meanwhile, violence among residents is also on the rise, whether stemming from long-standing family feuds, personal rivalries, or unknown reasons — and the state remains largely absent. As the year draws to a close, it raises the question: what more awaits a country that seems trapped in an ongoing state of collapse and violence?
