BBCMohammed Sukayneh picked his method by means of slabs of rubble and twisted metallic, clutching a couple of plastic baggage – all he might get better from his residence of 45 years.
It was introduced down on prime of him and his household final evening by an Israeli airstrike, that killed at 18 individuals, 4 of them kids, in line with Lebanon’s Well being Ministry.
The assault occurred with out warning in a spot the place individuals thought they might be protected – about 150 metres from the doorway to Lebanon’s largest public hospital, the Rafik Hariri hospital in southern Beirut.
Mohammed and his household have been asleep of their beds.
“We did not recognise what is occurring,” he mentioned.
“After the strike we hear the sound like ‘increase, increase, increase, increase’ like this. And all the pieces is thrown on us. Stones, metallic, metal, contemporary blood, contemporary meat on us. You could not converse, you could not breathe, you could not take your oxygen.”
He names 5 neighbours who’re nonetheless underneath the rubble of their residence. And there have been others, killed straight away, in their very own neighbourhood – together with two 19-year-old women who have been sitting outdoors his door.
Mohammed, 54, survived with a grazed arm, however his 20-year-old nephew is now in intensive care. “Half of his mind 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 palms on her head, rocking backwards and forwards in misery. “There are not any Hezbollah right here,” she mentioned, “we’re all civilians”.
A neighbour mentioned, “everybody flew by means of the air”.
Minutes later extra stays have been recovered from the rubble and carried away in a black physique bag.
I requested Mohammed what he thought Israel might have been focusing on, on this closely populated space.
“They’re hitting all the pieces randomly,” he replied, his voice strengthened by anger.
“With out seeing there may be kids. The place are the weapons right here? The place are the rockets right here? Blind, Israeli enemies. Blind.”
The Israel Protection Forces (IDF) says it struck a “Hezbollah terrorist goal close to the hospital” with out offering any details about what the goal was. It says the hospital itself was not focused or hit.
Rafik Hariri hospital director Jihad Saadeh mentioned it was struck by shrapnel however is functioning usually and won’t be evacuated.
Not so for the Al Sahel non-public hospital, about 2km away, which was emptied out final evening.
“We evacuated immediately, like loopy,” says Dr Mazen Alameh, the final supervisor.
“We can’t danger anybody’s lives. We can’t take it as granted that they (Israel) is not going to bomb.”
The hurried evacuation of 10 sufferers and 50 employees got here after a public declare by the Israeli army that the hospital was sitting on prime of a Hezbollah bunker, filled with riches.
The IDF gave no proof however produced a 3D animation, claiming to point out a bunker beneath the constructing. “There are lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in money and gold contained in the bunker, proper now,” mentioned the IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari.
It gave the impression of an invite to a heist.
On the hospital immediately administration and docs gathered to disclaim “Israel’s false allegation” and provides us a tour, together with the 2 flooring beneath floor. The hospital is within the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, however employees insist strongly that it’s not linked with any group.
“It is actually stunning to say that Sahel Hospital is affiliated with any get together in Lebanon,” says Dr Alameh. “It is a non-public hospital. It is a educating hospital for docs, physicians and different medical college students.”
He dismissed Israel’s declare of a hidden bunker. “The hospital was based 40 years in the past on an outdated home,” he mentioned.
“It’s unattainable to have any tunnel or infrastructure beneath. Any individual on the earth can come right here and see all the pieces they need.”
We have been inspired to verify in each nook. Nowhere was off limits, not even the morgue. Bundles of surgical scrubs, and packets of surgical devices have been opened to point out there was nothing hid.
After the tour, we have been allowed to maneuver round freely. We noticed empty wards and anxious employees, 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 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 nevertheless it is not going to strike the hospital itself.”
For now, Al Sahel stays closed, however docs need to get again to treating the sick.
“We’re an establishment serving to individuals,” mentioned Dr Walid Alameh, the medical director, and a cousin of Dr Mazen.
“The founding father of this hospital is my father,” he mentioned, changing into emotional. “That is my residence. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll open.”
However Israel is imposing its personal wartime schedule right here.
This afternoon it bombed Beirut once more, a brief drive from the hospital, and on Hezbollah’s doorstep.
A spokesman for the armed group had referred to as a uncommon press convention.
Because it was underway, the IDF issued a warning, telling residents of two close by buildings to go away as they have been “positioned close to Hezbollah services.”
Half an hour later two extra multi story buildings vanished from the skyline in seconds, diminished to darkish clouds of smoke and ash.
In properties, and in hospitals right here, many are suffering from concern.