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Civilians flood hospitals
27/07/2006 22:37 - (SA)
Beirut - Hundreds of civilians fleeing Israeli air strikes have flooded a hospital in southern Lebanon, sleeping in corridors and eating days-old scraps of food, according to an amateur video obtained by The Associated Press.
Footage showed families huddled on the floor of a government hospital in Tibnin, about 12km from the Israeli border. Veiled women and their children crouched around the main reception desk while men paced the halls in dirty clothes.
Food and water appeared scarce. A young boy was shown eating a stick of butter with his hands. Bugs crawled in a dry drinking fountain nearby.
"There is no water, and there's no one to take us to Beirut," one man said. Arab filmmaker Tamer Alawam and American photojournalist Sheryl Mendez shot the video on Wednesday. The two freelancers said they saw hundreds of refugees, but people at the hospital told them that more than 1 700 had been there in recent days.
Garbage was strewn through the two-storey facility's halls, and a newborn infant lay on a foam cushion in a corner, crying.
Children waved and smiled at the wandering camera, but many of the adults interviewed were angry.
"Is it logical for the Arab countries and the Europeans to stay silent? "We Lebanese cheered them in the World Cup, but the Europeans don't sense what we're going through. "We ask all the people of the world to rise against this terrorist enemy (Israel)," one tired-looking man said.
Many praised Hezbollah, which has strong support in the region. Others frantically questioned the photographer for the whereabouts of their relatives, left behind in villages.
"They levelled our house, but we climbed out of the rubble and walked away. They are shelling everywhere, without sparing children or older people," said one woman from the village Bint Jbail. Imaginary line Civilians interviewed in the video described an imaginary line across Lebanon's south. Below the line where most of the Israeli artillery had fallen since the fighting began more than two weeks ago, residents have either fled or were frightened to come out of their homes, they said.
Footage of roads inside that zone showed more carnage than traffic.
An ambulance on the shoulder of a road in Qana had its doors blown off, and two stretchers hung out. Its roof, painted with a giant red cross, had a two-foot wide hole at the centre.
In Zibqine, a white minivan also appeared to have been hit through its roof, and a man's burnt body still sat in the back seat, his limp hand hanging out the vehicle's window. A handprint was stamped on the door in dried blood.
- AP
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