A child’s robe found in the rubble of an Israeli airstrike on Basta al-Fawqa [Philippe Pernot]
Beirut was jolted awake last night by deadly Israeli airstrikes, which hit in the heart of the Lebanese capital without warning at around 4 am, levelling an entire apartment block.
The attack was the fourth this week on central Beirut — coming as Israeli airstrikes on the country have markedly intensified since US envoy Amos Achstein ended his visit to the region on Wednesday, with ceasefire efforts stuck at the door of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel now wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Gaza, though not yet in Lebanon.
Around noon on Saturday, rescue workers were still searching for survivors amid a massive pile of rubble, once an eight-story apartment building in the densely-populated Basta neighbourhood.
Dozens of the neighbourhood’s residents and relatives of those killed were gathered at the scene of the strike. Some stood quiet, in shock. Others had tears in their eyes, leaning on those around them for support.
Security was tense, with the press not allowed to go near the demolished building. As a body was brought toward an ambulance on standby, one of the multiple soldiers standing guard demanded cameras be turned off.
Israeli media claimed the Basta strike targeted a high-ranking Hezbollah official, but the group later denied any of its officials were present in the site.
Lebanon’s health ministry has reported that 15 people were killed and 63 injured, including men, women and children. The toll will likely be higher, as search and rescue efforts continue.
There was no evacuation order given prior to the strike, in the early hours of the morning when most of the neighbourhood was asleep.
‘An entire family killed’
On the outskirts of the crowd, a 25-year-old woman cried, comforted by her friend beside her. She was mourning her relatives killed in the attack, including 5-year-old Muhammad Ali, 9-year-old Fatima, and another 13-year-old girl, also named Fatima.
The woman, who requested to remain anonymous, said they had been living in the building with nine others — including their grandparents — for about a month after fleeing their home in Beirut’s southern suburbs, under heavy Israeli bombardment.
“An entire family was killed. It was such a shock,” she told TNA, in tears.
Over 3,650 people have been killed and more than 15,200 wounded by Israeli fire in Lebanon since October 2023, when Hezbollah initiated exchanges of fire with Israel in support of Gaza, as it claims.
Over the past two months, Israel has severely escalated its attacks throughout Lebanon.
Around the corner from the demolished building, Issam Abdullah, 55, was taking a break in a small cafe. Abdullah, a member of Lebanon’s civil defence, had just spent almost eight hours picking through the rubble for human remains.
He told TNA the bodies he removed from the rubble were unidentifiable, many of them in pieces. But he was sure at least two were children, by the size of their tiny, fragmented limbs.
“One wore a small blue bracelet, around her small hand,” he recounted.
Neighbourhood destroyed
Saturday’s strike hit just a building away from the location of another Israeli strike, in early October. Along the street not only homes, but also shops were destroyed, eroding both residents’ livelihoods and sense of security.
Abu Ali Bazaza’s mini-market — which he had been running for 45 years — was turned to rubble on Saturday. The market was on the building’s first floor, where he sold foodstuffs like hummus, sugar, and rice.
Next to his shop he said there was also a one-dollar shop and jewellery store, all now just debris.
“My work is now gone, what will I do?,” Bazaza told TNA, “I’m 67 years old, who would hire me?”
He said the families living in the building often came to his shop, noting that each floor had about two apartments. On the first floor there was a woman and her son and on the second, a man lived with his sister, Bazaza said.
He estimated there were around 25 people living in the building, including multiple displaced families, whom he believes were all killed.
“The house, the car, we can replace them, we can rebuild, but the soul, it cannot come back,” he added.
Nearby, Samih Masri, 31, sat outside his butchery, watching the rescue workers clear the rubble. He had just repaired his shop’s glass windows, which had been shattered by an Israeli strike in early October.
Before Israel’s escalation, his was one of around 20 shops, including hair salons, bakeries, and perfume stores, along the street. Now, most have been shuttered.
After Saturday’s strike Bazaza said he had lost hope too and would also have to close his doors, parting with his business of eight years. “There’s no more work,” he said, sighing.
‘We don’t have anywhere else to go’
Almost all of the buildings around the scene of the strike were damaged. Across the street, a woman swept the broken glass and debris covering her balcony. Below her, on the first floor, Zainab Ramo, 55, had just finished sweeping up the dust from her home and had just begun to cook eggs for herself and husband.
She said they had barely slept after the strike. “Of course, I am scared,” she told TNA, “I thought we would die.”
Both Israeli strikes in the area— in early October and yesterday — hit just meters away from Ramo’s home of 50 years, owned by her grandfather.
She said that her intense and near-constant fear since the strike in early October had given her diabetes and high blood pressure, and she was now on multiple medications. But, “we don’t have anywhere else to go”, she said.
The door to their kitchen had blown off and a piece landed on their daughter’s leg. Luckily, she said that with rest and pain medication, she would be okay.
Ramo’s neighbours were not so lucky. “I used to pass them, and say hello,” she said, “I knew the caretaker [of the building], her, her husband, and children all passed away,” she said.
Outside Ramo’s building a banner was still hung, in memory of those killed in early October, and a constant reminder of the death and destruction at her doorstep. “There were so many people who died,” she said.
[All photos by Philippe Pernot]
