Sister already dead • Parents’ anger and grief: “My time stopped at the attack”
In the past two months alone, over 200 children have been killed and 1,100 injured in Lebanon. One of them is ten-year-old Hussein, who is being treated for severe abdominal and skull injuries.
– He has a long road of rehabilitation ahead of him, says his father Ayman.
Inside the burn unit in Beirut, the smell is of burnt skin and permanent bandages. In one of the rooms a child is crying loudly, in other rooms the children lie and stare blankly into the air.
Patients, primarily children with severe burn or trauma injuries, have flocked here since the war between Israel and Hezbollah entered an intense phase two months ago.
The heat from bombs that fell, fires that started during the explosion or other damage has led to a significant increase in the number of burns in recent months.
Need help breathing
In one of the beds lies 10-year-old Hussein. His skin has started to heal from the burns but his vocal cords are gone, he needs help breathing, he has severe abdominal injuries and he is paralyzed on his left side. By his side are his mother and father. They try to keep the son calm.
– When we are here, he is calm. He hears and understands everything, so we talk to him a lot about everything. But he can’t talk to us and he’s in pain, says his father Ayman.
Their house is north of Beirut and the September 29 attack is believed to have targeted a family of a Hezbollah leader who was in southern Lebanon. But it was primarily children who were killed in the attack.
– We were far from the war and here there are no weapons or any command center, says Ayman when we accompany him to his former house, which lies in rubble.
– I was down in town when they called and said that our house had been attacked. When I came rushing home, I saw my wife outside the house. They had managed to get her out alive. I asked her: where are the children? I ran into the mobs tearing into things and screaming the names of my son Hussein and daughter Malika. Repeatedly.
Found out from neighbor
After a while, a neighbor told me that the children were already in hospital. When the parents arrived at the hospital, it turned out that seven-year-old Malika was already dead and 10-year-old Hussein was badly injured.
– I still can’t believe that our house was bombed. Or that my daughter is dead, says Ayman.
The tears come when he shows happy pictures of the two siblings together.
– I see on the news that there is a ceasefire but what does it matter? My time stopped at the attack. All that matters is my son and how he is doing. I no longer care about anything else.