BBC/Goktay KoraltanMohammed Sukayneh picked his manner by means of slabs of rubble and twisted steel, clutching just a few plastic baggage – all he may get well from his residence of 45 years.
It was introduced down on high of him and his household final night time by an Israeli airstrike, that killed at 18 folks, 4 of them youngsters, in line with Lebanon’s Well being Ministry.
The assault occurred with out warning in a spot the place folks thought they’d be secure – about 150 metres from the doorway to Lebanon’s largest public hospital, the Rafik Hariri hospital in southern Beirut.
Mohammed and his household had been asleep of their beds.
“We didn’t recognise what is happening,” he mentioned.
“After the strike we hear the sound like ‘boom, boom, boom, boom’ like this. And everything is thrown on us. Stones, metal, steel, fresh blood, fresh meat on us. You couldn’t speak, you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t take your oxygen.”
He names 5 neighbours who’re nonetheless underneath the rubble of their residence. And there have been others, killed right away, in their very own neighbourhood – together with two 19-year-old ladies who had been sitting exterior his door.
Mohammed, 54, survived with a grazed arm, however his 20-year-old nephew is now in intensive care. “Half of his brain is crushed,” he mentioned.
A civil defence employee on the scene advised us six residential buildings had been introduced down, most of them three or 4 tales excessive.
A veiled lady sat on the bottom, together with her arms on her head, rocking forwards and backwards in misery. “There are no Hezbollah here,” she mentioned, “we are all civilians”.
A neighbour mentioned, “everyone flew through the air”.
Minutes later extra stays had been recovered from the rubble and carried away in a black physique bag.
I requested Mohammed what he thought Israel may have been concentrating on, on this closely populated space.
“They are hitting everything randomly,” he replied, his voice strengthened by anger.
“Without seeing there is children. Where are the guns here? Where are the rockets here? Blind, Israeli enemies. Blind.”
BBC/Goktay KoraltanThe Israel Protection Forces (IDF) says it struck a “Hezbollah terrorist target near the hospital” without providing any information about what the target was. It says the hospital itself was not targeted or hit.
Rafik Hariri hospital director Jihad Saadeh said it was struck by shrapnel but is functioning normally and will not be evacuated.
Not so for the Al Sahel private hospital, about 2km away, which was emptied out last night.
“We evacuated instantly, like crazy,” says Dr Mazen Alameh, the general manager.
“We cannot risk anyone’s lives. We cannot take it as granted that they (Israel) will not bomb.”
The hurried evacuation of 10 patients and 50 staff came after a public claim by the Israeli military that the hospital was sitting on top of a Hezbollah bunker, full of riches.
The IDF gave no proof but produced a 3D animation, claiming to show a bunker beneath the building. “There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker, right now,” said the IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari.
It sounded like an invitation to a heist.
At the hospital today management and doctors gathered to deny “Israel’s false allegation” and give us a tour, including the two floors below ground. The hospital is in the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, but staff insist strongly that it is not linked with any group.
“It’s really shocking to say that Sahel Hospital is affiliated with any party in Lebanon,” says Dr Alameh. “It’s a private hospital. It’s a teaching hospital for doctors, physicians and other medical students.”
He dismissed Israel’s claim of a hidden bunker. “The hospital was founded 40 years ago on an old house,” he mentioned.
“It’s impossible to have any tunnel or infrastructure underneath. Any person in the world can come here and see everything they want.”
We had been inspired to verify in each nook. Nowhere was off limits, not even the morgue. Bundles of surgical scrubs, and packets of surgical devices had been opened to point out there was nothing hid.
After the tour, we had been allowed to maneuver round freely. We noticed empty wards and anxious workers, however no trace of a bunker.
Israel claimed the doorway was in a neighbouring constructing. We went there too and had free entry to the car parking zone beneath. If there was an entrance to a secret bunker, we didn’t discover it.
The one door we noticed led to a raise, which we couldn’t open. However that door was not hid, and appeared an unlikely entry level to a hidden chamber filled with gold.
As we left the hospital as an Israeli drone circled overhead within the sunshine. Israel says its air power is “monitoring the compound but it will not strike the hospital itself.”
For now, Al Sahel stays closed, however medical doctors wish to get again to treating the sick.
“We are an institution helping people,” mentioned Dr Walid Alameh, the medical director, and a cousin of Dr Mazen.
“The founder of this hospital is my father,” he mentioned, changing into emotional. “This is my home. Hopefully tomorrow we will open.”
But Israel is imposing its own wartime schedule here.
This afternoon it bombed Beirut again, a short drive from the hospital, and on Hezbollah’s doorstep.
A spokesman for the armed group had called a rare press conference.
As it was underway, the IDF issued a warning, telling residents of two nearby buildings to leave as they were “located near Hezbollah facilities.”
Half an hour later two more multi story buildings vanished from the skyline in seconds, reduced to dark clouds of smoke and ash.
In homes, and in hospitals here, many are stricken by fear.
Extra reporting by Angie Mrad.
