Mohammed Sukayneh sifted through rubble and twisted steel, clutching plastic bags. This was all he had left of his 45-year-old home.
According to the Health Ministry of Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike killed 18 people, including four children, last night.
The attack took place without warning, in an area where people believed they were safe – around 150 metres from the entrance of Lebanon’s largest hospital, the Rafik Haridi hospital in southern Beirut.
Mohammed and his family were sleeping in their beds.
“We didn’t realise what was happening,” he said.
“After the strike, we hear a sound like ‘boom boom boom boom boom’. We are pelted with everything. Stones, metal, stainless steel, fresh meat, fresh blood are thrown on us. “You couldn’t speak or breathe, and you couldn’t take oxygen.”
He namess five neighbours still under the rubble. There were also others who were killed in an instant in their own neighbourhood, including two 19-year old girls who were standing outside his door.
Mohammed, 54, is recovering in intensive care with a grazed right arm. His 20-year-old niece is also there. “Half his brain is crushed,” said the man.
Civil defence workers at the scene said that six residential buildings, most of which were three or four stories tall, had been destroyed.
A veiled woman rocked back and forth, hands on her head. She was in distress. “There is no Hezbollah in this place,” she said. “We are all civilians.”
“Everyone flew through air”, said a neighbour.
Minutes later, more remains were recovered and taken away in a body bag.
I asked Mohammed if he could tell me what Israel might have been targeting in this densely populated area.
He replied, his voice heightened by anger.
“Without seeing, there are children.” Where are the guns? Where are the rockets? Blind, Israeli enemies. Blind.”
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), without providing any details about the target, claim to have struck a “Hezbollah terror target near the hospital”. It claims that the hospital was not hit or targeted.
Director of Rafik Hariri Hospital Jihad Saadeh stated that the hospital was hit by shrapnel, but is still functioning normally and won’t be evacuated.
Al Sahel, a private hospital located about 2km from the city, was empty last night.
Dr Mazen alameh, general manager, says: “We evacuated immediately, like crazy.”
We cannot risk anyone’s life. “We cannot assume that Israel will not bomb.”
The Israeli military claimed that the hospital was built on top of Hezbollah’s bunker and contained a wealth of gold. This prompted the evacuation of 10 patients.
The IDF did not provide any proof, but instead produced a 3D animated video that claimed to show the bunker underneath the building. “There are hundreds and millions of dollars of cash and gold in the bunker right now,” said IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari.
It sounded a lot like an invitation to a heist.
Today, doctors and hospital management gathered at the hospital to deny the “false allegation of Israel” and give us an exclusive tour. This included the two floors beneath the ground. The hospital is located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah-stronghold. However, staff insist that it has no connection with any group.
Dr Alameh says, “It is shocking to say Sahel Hospital has any affiliation with any party in Lebanon.” “It is a private hospital. It’s an educational hospital for doctors, medical students and other physicians.
He denied Israel’s claim that a secret bunker was hidden. He said that the hospital was founded on an old house 40 years ago.
“It is impossible to have a tunnel or infrastructure beneath.” Anyone in the world is welcome to come and see all they want.
We were encouraged by our guide to check every corner. Even the morgue was not off limits. The bundles of surgical scrubs and packets of instruments were opened up to reveal that nothing was hidden.
After the tour we were allowed to roam around at our leisure. We saw empty wards, anxious staff and no sign of a bunker.
Israel claimed that the entrance was located in a nearby building. We also went there and had free parking underneath. We did not find any entrance to the secret bunker.
We could not open the only door that we saw. The door was not hidden, but it seemed unlikely to be the entrance to a hidden room full of gold.
As we left the hospital, an Israeli drone flew overhead in the sun. Israel claims its air force will “monitor the compound, but it won’t strike the hospital itself.”
Al Sahel is still closed for now, but doctors are eager to return to treating patients.
“We are a medical institution that helps people,” said Dr Walid alameh, a cousin of Mazen and the medical director.
“The founder is my father,” said the man, who became emotional. “This is home.” We will open tomorrow.
But Israel is imposing here its own wartime calendar.
This afternoon, it bombed Beirut, just a few minutes’ drive from the hospital and right on Hezbollah’s doorstep.
A rare press conference was called by a spokesman of the armed group.
The IDF warned residents of two nearby buildings that they should leave because “they were located near Hezbollah installations.”
Half an hour after that, two more multi-story buildings vanished in a matter of seconds from the skyline, reduced to a dark cloud of smoke and ash.
Many people are afraid in their homes and hospitals.
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