On September 16, 1982, killings began in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Lebanese Christian Phalangist militiamen entered the camps, and large numbers of Palestinian civilians were killed over the following days. Estimates of the death toll vary considerably among sources.
The massacre became one of the most consequential and contested episodes of the 1982 Lebanon War. The events prompted international condemnation and an Israeli commission of inquiry, which examined the responsibility of Israeli officials and military commanders for failing to prevent the killings. Today, September 16 is marked by memorial events honoring those who died.
