QANA, Lebanon, 31 July 2006 — Mothers hugged their dead children in a final hopeless embrace as the wrath of Israeli fire power was again visited on the Lebanese village of Qana, turning houses and a shelter into twisted and dusty piles of rubble.
Rescue workers using only their bare hands recovered the corpses of 56 civilians and searched through the debris, just 10 years after more than 100 refugees were killed in the same village by Israeli raids.
Among the buildings hit in the two hours of raids on the southern village yesterday was a shelter with a cellar underneath where 63 people had taken refuge — including a group of physically and mentally handicapped people.
“After the bombardment there was dust everywhere. We couldn’t see anything. I succeeded in getting out and everything collapsed. I have several members of the family inside and I do not think there will be any other survivors,” said a distraught Ibrahim Shalhoub, 26.
“The bombing was so intense that no one could move. Rescue efforts could only start this morning,” said the man, one of just a handful of people believed to have survived the airstrike on the shelter.
The bodies of 25 children were among those recovered from under the rubble of dozens of buildings which collapsed after the bombardment, said Salam Daher, the civil defense chief in the region.
“I retrieved my son and my husband, Sheikh Mohamad, who were wounded,” cried a woman identified as Rahba.
“But when I quickly came back to try to get out my daughter who had stayed in the shelter, it was too late because the building had crumpled.” Terrified mothers held up and then embraced the bodies of their dead children, still wearing the pajamas they had gone to sleep in. The small rigid bodies were caked in dust, mucus dripping from their noses.
Scattered among the shattered buildings were the charred remains of photographs, including one of two young men posing during their national service.
Screaming relatives could only watch as bulldozers moved in to shift the heavy rubble.
“Some of the children had been sleeping, others cowering from fear. They were still in the fetal position. We found them still in this position — they thought it would keep them safe,” said rescue worker Naim Refah.
Mohsen Hashem, 30, said all his immediate family and his nephews were buried under the wreckage. “Qana always pays the price,” he said.
“In 1996 the roads were open. But today the victims had to wait until 9 a.m. until anyone came to help,” Hashem said. “I saw a child’s wounded head lying on the ground for eight hours.”
“Again in Qana,” added rescue worker Refah. “Whenever Israel is in a weakened state it commits bigger massacres.” Rescue operations had to stop in the morning over fears that the final story of the building was about to collapse. And as the recovery efforts continued, Israeli jets roared overhead, launching sporadic raids around the outskirts of Qana.
One furious man eyed the jets angrily. “These are the Israeli warplanes attacking children, this is natural,” he said. “Israel has nothing but its massacres. I was here in 1996 and went to pick up the bodies.”
“The international community can’t even condemn Israel when they kill four-year-old kids.”
