After Israel’s Strike at a Hospital Near Beirut, Search Teams Comb the Ruin

by · NY Times

After a Deadly Strike Near Beirut, Ringtones Sound From Under Rubble

As search teams combed the ruins of residential buildings across from Rafik Hariri University Hospital just south of Lebanon’s capital, locals listened for signs of their loved ones in the wreckage.

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The wreckage of residential buildings after the deadly strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital, near Beirut, on Tuesday.

By Hwaida Saad and Euan Ward

Photographs by Diego Ibarra Sanchez

Reporting from Beirut

The air was thick with dust. The wreckage beneath, mangled and smoldering. The overnight Israeli strike had come without warning, leaving no time to evacuate.

By morning, search teams were still pulling bodies from the ruins of the residential buildings across from Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public health facility in Lebanon. Locals gathered on Tuesday at the site, just south of Beirut, listening for the ringtones of their loved ones’ phones emanating from under the debris.

“We’re hearing his phone ringing. It keeps ringing under the rubble,” said Mpsati Mi, 30, an Ethiopian national who was searching for her friend, Aamal.

“He’s not only a neighbor, but a brother to me,” she said.

“I tried to call,” said another local resident, Ahmad Kalash, a Syrian national who had already visited nearby hospitals to see if he could find his friend, Hussein.

“I’m waiting to hear anything from the rescuers,” he said.

At least 18 people, including four children, were killed in the strike, and 60 others were wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The attack, which was not preceded by an evacuation notice from the Israeli military, also damaged the nearby hospital, which in recent weeks has been swamped by patients evacuated from other health facilities.

The Israeli military said that it had not targeted the hospital, and had instead aimed at a “Hezbollah terror target” in the area. The military said that the hospital had not been affected, but damage was seen during a visit to the facility by a Times reporter and photographer on Tuesday.

The powerful blast had shattered the hospital’s windows and the solar panels affixed atop the building, a lifeline amid Lebanon’s chronic power shortages. Rows of sand bags now lined the underground parking lot as hospital workers made preparations for further strikes. Many of them were in an uproar, saying they did not have the staff numbers and supplies they needed.

Officials said the attack damaged Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public health facility in Lebanon.
CreditCredit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

“The hospital was subjected to severe damage,” said Dr. Jihad Saadeh, the hospital’s director, recounting how two missiles had flattened at least three buildings opposite the main gate.

Israel began an intensified military campaign against Hezbollah last month, nearly a year after the Lebanese militant group began firing rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli offensive has set off a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, displacing around a fifth of the population and buckling the country’s health sector.

The conflict has killed more than 2,400 Lebanese over the past year, most of them in recent weeks, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hundreds of women and children are among the dead.

At the scene of the strike, one man said he had lost eleven of his relatives — among them women and children. Other local residents described panic and terror when the overnight strike hit, and said that people who had been displaced from other parts of the country by Israel’s offensive were among the dead.

“The shock wave pushed us. I felt I was flying,” said Ahmad al-Hassan, 48, who was at home with his wife and children when the blast struck. His home survived the explosion but was badly damaged. He was one of the lucky ones.

Hassan Hakim stood waiting at the site for news about his friend, Mohamed, who was still trapped under the rubble along with his two children.

“I saw a hand,” said Mr. Hakim. “I don’t know whether it’s Mohamed or not.”

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