Aakriti Thapar/BBC NewsWhen the air strike struck on Monday night, Fouad Wassan, 74 was sitting on his balcony, in south Beirut‘s Jnah neighborhood, reading his mobile.No evacuation order had been given by the Israeli Army before the rocket slammed his home and the home of his grandchildren, just a few steps away. “When the bombing occurred, I fainted,” Fouad said. “I was taken for oxygen because of the smoke from the strike. “When I recovered, I realized that the entire neighborhood was destroyed.” Now a pile mangled steel masonry lies where several residential buildings were close together. Aakriti Thapar/BBC NewsIn the buildings that are still standing, you can see the contents of the homes through the holes in the walls. “My granddaughter is dead here, and my grandon is still in the coma,” Fouad said. Both were 23. Fouad is well-known in the community. He is an actor and comedian who has appeared on Lebanese TV under the stage name Zaghloul. Fouad pulls out his phone and shows us a photo of his granddaughter Alaa. She poses confidently for the camera in a gold dress. “She was happily engaged and looking forward to her wedding in three months,” Fouad explains. “She applied to become Miss Lebanon and was shredded into pieces. Why? Why? Israel‘s leaders believe that their military campaign has brought them great victories – as they have killed Hezbollah senior leadership. However, it has also claimed many innocent lives with reports of whole families being killed by strikes across the country. The statistics do no distinguish between Hezbollah members and civilians. Despite not issuing an evacuation order in advance to residents on Monday night, Israel’s army later stated that they were targeting a “Hezbollah terror target”, but did provide further details. The Israeli army denied the initial reports that the Rafik-Hariri hospital compound, the largest public hospital in the capital, had been hit. However, across the road, a poor neighbourhood was also affected. He shows us the picture of his son, who is in intensive care at the hospital with his face bandaged. We have nowhere to go and nothing to wear. This is a mass murder. Ahmed tells of the massacre. “We have no base here. No Hezbollah. There’s nothing,” Ahmed says. It is unclear why Israel’s army issues evacuation orders for some missile strikes but not others. “Whenever I entered my neighbourhood, they would yell, ‘Grandpa Grandpa! What did you bring for us? I would give them popcorn, crisps and candy. I am saddened by their loss; they are all dead. Their mother is still under the rubble, with one of their children. We are told a mother and child were found. Survivors describe Israeli strike on Beirut that killed 18No life left there’: The suburbs bearing the brunt of Israel’s strikes on BeirutEmpty bars and bookshops: How Israeli strikes transformed Lebanon’s buzzing capitalMiddle EastIsraelHezbollahLebanonBeirut
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