Terrified families flee their homes in Lebanon amid new Israeli airstrikes
Emergency workers have been struggling to cope with the sudden spike of people fleeing their homes in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli forces continued their campaign of airstrikes across the country.
The capital, Beirut, was struck for the third time in five days as the Israeli military said it had targeted and “eliminated” another key Hezbollah commander.
He was named by Israeli forces as Muhammed Qabisi – Hezbollah’s commander in charge of missiles and rockets – and comes days after the militant group buried another of its top leaders.
There were multiple Israeli airstrikes across the south and in the east for a second day as huge swathes of the population continued fleeing to the north of the country.
Israel-Hezbollah latest updates
We saw terrified and worried families turning up at the emergency centre in Tyre as Israeli jets flew overhead alongside the sounds of Hezbollah rockets being fired into Israel.
“We have nothing left,” a woman called Fatima told us. “We have no food, no water, nothing.”
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said two of its workers had been killed in airstrikes, including a young mother and her son.
The agency said it was “outraged and deeply saddened” at the deaths.
Dina Daarwiche and her family were at home in the Bekaa Valley when the house was targeted.
She and her youngest son were killed and her husband and second child are critical in hospital.
The second UNHCR worker was named as Ali Basma, who had worked in the agency’s Tyre office for seven years.
The Lebanese Ministry Of Health said the number killed in Monday and Tuesday’s airstrikes included children and many women and had now risen to nearly 600.
UNHCR said in a statement: “The protection of civilians is a must.
“We reiterate the UN secretary-general’s call for urgent de-escalation and calls on all parties to protect civilians, including aid workers in line with obligations under international humanitarian law.”
We’ve been witnessing multiple airstrikes in the south throughout the day and evening with the constant sounds of blasts and ambulance sirens going off.
The head of Tyre’s emergency response, Hassan Dbouk, told us: “Half of the IDPs (displaced people), they slept in the garden, on the beach, without any tent, any cover, any blanket, in the streets and in their cars, that’s a disaster.
“And when you see the eyes of the babies and the women, it’s really a disaster.”
As desperate people turned up at the disaster response centre in Tyre, one man told us his was the only house still standing in his village.
“They hit them all,” Abu Ali said.
Emergency workers have been trying to cope with the huge numbers of people needing help in Lebanon
The Israeli forces say they are targeting Hezbollah weapons stores, fighters and commanders and said the militant group is hiding in residential areas and using Lebanese people as human shields.
But Abu Ali insisted: “That’s not true. Not a single target (in our village) was on a military position.
“They’re only hitting civilians. We don’t have military operations in our village.”
The astonishing movement of tens of thousands of the Lebanese population from the south and along the border comes on the back of nearly a year of Israel saying it wants to create a buffer zone so Hezbollah cannot fire into its northern communities.
Even if the continuous Israeli bombardment of the south and the border is not a deliberate tactic to ensure this happens, that certainly appears to be the growing result.
But despite a range of Israeli attacks on its military command and supporters through the booby-trapped pagers and radios; despite its targeting of key Hezbollah commanders; and despite its aerial bombardment of multiple population centres and significant Hezbollah strongholds, the militant group shows no signs of backing down.
Read more on Sky News:
‘Leave immediately,’ Starmer tells Britons in Lebanon
Litani River: The UN’s attempt at a buffer zone
Roads out of southern Lebanon have been heavily congested as people flee their communities
Instead, the militants are using more of their powerful weapons.
Last night, for the first time, the group used a ballistic missile aimed at the suburbs of Tel Aviv, they say targeting a Mossad building, and in the last few days they have continuously fired their long-range Fadi rockets, which they have been launching deeper and deeper into Israeli territory.
The Iran-allied group, which the UK and US have designated as a terror group, has linked its attacks on Israel since last October to a Gaza ceasefire – and insists it will continue until there is one.
That’s ensured its hero status among its many loyalists and its Hamas allies.
But with a Gaza ceasefire unlikely soon, and with the Israeli forces vowing to increase their onslaught on the militants, Lebanon looks set for a very rough period ahead.
The Sky News team reporting with Alex Crawford from south Lebanon is camera Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon producers Jihad Jneid and Sami Zein.
It was in the evening that the bombing started to intensify.
Salah Jundia, his father and brothers huddled together in their home in Shujaiyya, just east of Gaza City, trying to work out what to do.
It was too risky for them to leave at night. There were a lot of them too. Extended family living across four storeys. They decided they would wait until after dawn prayers.
The explosion tore through the building just before 5am, collapsing one storey on to the next.
The aftermath of Israel’s bombing campaign in Shujaiyya, just east of Gaza City
Salah Jundia
Jundia says he survived because pieces of bedroom furniture fell on top of him.
Then he looked for his father and brothers.
“I found one of them calling for help. I removed the rubble covering him with my hands. Then I saw another brother covered in rubble but he was dead,” he told Sky News.
Jundia added: “My father was also dead. My other brother was also dead. We got them out and that is when I saw that the whole building had collapsed.”
Over the next few hours, they scrambled to rescue who they could.
An aunt and uncle and one of their children, Shaimaa. Uncle Imad and his son Mohammad. The bodies of Montasir and Mustaf.
One of the child victims of the attack on the home near the Gaza City
Another one of child victims of the attack
Jundia says he could hear cries for help, but they were coming from deep in the rubble and were impossible to reach.
The rescue teams on site – civil defence they are called – did not have the kit to clear through three floors of 500 square metres, 30cm slabs of concrete.
Rescuers drilling to try and reach the people trapped below the rubble
Efforts to free those trapped beneath the rubble near the Gaza City
In the afternoon, Jundia says Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) told rescue teams to leave as they would be resuming their bombardment.
Jundia buried the bodies he had managed to pull out but he knew 15 of his family members, 12 of them children, were still somewhere inside the rubble, still crying for help.
He made a desperate video appeal, begging the Red Cross and Arab countries to pressure Israel to grant access to the site. It was picked up on a few social media accounts.
Israel won’t allow heavy equipment into Gaza. No diggers or bulldozers, nor the fuel or generators to run them.
They say it will fall into Hamas’s hands.
It was a major sticking point during the ceasefire and it is a major issue now as the bombardment continues, given the fact that hundreds if not thousands of civilians might survive if there were the equipment to extract them.
Members of Salah Jundia’s family left alive after the attack
Salah Jundia and his surviving family
Civil defence trying to get to the Jundia family home over the next few days were halted because the IDF were in the vicinity. A family friend tried himself and was killed.
The footage that our camera teams have shot in Shujaiyya over the past two weeks shows how civil defence teams struggle to save those who are trapped and injured with the most rudimentary of equipment – plastering trowels, sledgehammers, ropes and small drills.
“The tight siege stops civil defence equipment from getting in,” says one.
They added: “So we are taking much longer to respond to these events. Time is a factor in getting these people out. So we call immediately for the necessary equipment to be allowed in for the civil defence to use.”
The IDF say they are investigating the circumstances around the Jundia family as a result of our enquiries.
In relation to the access of heavy equipment into Gaza, they say they work closely with international aid organisations to enable the delivery of humanitarian activities in accordance with international law.
The last contact Jundia had from beneath the rubble was a phone call from his uncle Ziad, three days after the strike.
“The line was open for 25 seconds then it went dead. We don’t know what happened. We tried to call, but there was no answer,” he says.
He and his family were displaced several times before they returned home to Shujaiyya – to Rafah in the south, then Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.
Along the way, Jundia lost one brother and a nephew to Israeli bombs.
Read more:
Israeli air strike hits Gaza hospital
Red dye dumped into US embassy in Israel protest
Israel shot at ambulances over ‘perceived threat’
“We were happy and all the family came back. We went back to our house. It was damaged, but we improvised and we lived in it. We have nothing to do with the resistance. We are not interested in wars. But we have been gravely harmed,” he says.
China’s economy performed better than expected in the first quarter of the year – but it reflects a moment in time before the explosive trade war with the US, which has seen the world’s two biggest economies effectively decouple.
Economists had predicted that gross domestic product would grow by about 5.1% in January to March, compared with a year earlier. In the end, it grew 5.4%.
But these impressive figures obscure the very serious challenges China’s economy is facing in the wake of Donald Tump’s trade war – and it is almost certain growth will not remain this strong as the year goes on.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Bobble-headed Trump explains China-US tariffs
The worst of Trump’s tariffs came into force in April, meaning they were not reflected in these figures.
In Q1, China faced an initial 10% tariff on all its exports to the US – which was then raised to 20% from 10 March.
But Beijing had planned and prepared for taxes at that level, and thus the impact was pretty minimal.
Growth was also propelled by the fact that exporters rushed to deliver orders in bulk before the tariffs came into force.
In fact, exports surged a remarkable 12% in March compared to a year earlier, a rate that will not be sustained.
Read more from Sky News:
White House looking at new trade deals
The art of doing a deal with Trump
US and UK ‘working hard’ on agreement
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump Tariffs: How the 10 days unfolded
Current tariffs on goods sold from China to America stand at 145%. Trade at that price is all but impossible.
Given exports account for a fifth of China’s economy, and consumer confidence domestically is still sluggish, there will be a significant hit to come.
Experts agree China will most likely miss its annual growth target of 5% – the question is by how much.
It was in the evening that the bombing started to intensify.
Salah Jundia, his father and brothers huddled together in their home in Shujaiyya, just east of Gaza City, trying to work out what to do.
It was too risky for them to leave at night. There were a lot of them too. Extended family living across four storeys. They decided they would wait until after dawn prayers.
The explosion tore through the building just before 5am, collapsing one storey on to the next.
The remains of Salah Jundia’s home in Shujaiyya, just east of Gaza City
Salah Jundia
Jundia says he survived because pieces of bedroom furniture fell on top of him.
Then he looked for his father and brothers.
“I found one of them calling for help. I removed the rubble covering him with my hands. Then I saw another brother covered in rubble but he was dead,” he told Sky News.
Jundia added: “My father was also dead. My other brother was also dead. We got them out and that is when I saw that the whole building had collapsed.”
Over the next few hours, they scrambled to rescue who they could.
One of the child victims of the attack on the home near the Gaza City
Another one of child victims of the attack
An aunt and uncle and one of their children, Shaimaa. Uncle Imad and his son Mohammad. The bodies of Montasir and Mustaf.
Jundia says he could hear cries for help, but they were coming from deep in the rubble and were impossible to reach.
The rescue teams on site – civil defence they are called – did not have the kit to clear through three floors of 500 square metres, 30cm slabs of concrete.
Rescuers drilling to try and reach the people trapped below the rubble
Efforts to free those trapped beneath the rubble near the Gaza City
In the afternoon, Jundia says Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) told rescue teams to leave as they would be resuming their bombardment.
Jundia buried the bodies he had managed to pull out but he knew 15 of his family members, 12 of them children, were still somewhere inside the rubble, still crying for help.
He made a desperate video appeal, begging the Red Cross and Arab countries to pressure Israel to grant access to the site. It was picked up on a few social media accounts.
Israel won’t allow heavy equipment into Gaza. No diggers or bulldozers, nor the fuel or generators to run them.
They say it will fall into Hamas’s hands.
It was a major sticking point during the ceasefire and it is a major issue now as the bombardment continues, given the fact that hundreds if not thousands of civilians might survive if there were the equipment to extract them.
Members of Salah Jundia’s family left alive after the attack
Salah Jundia and his surviving family
Civil defence trying to get to the Jundia family home over the next few days were halted because the IDF were in the vicinity. A family friend tried himself and was killed.
The footage that our camera teams have shot in Shujaiyya over the past two weeks shows how civil defence teams struggle to save those who are trapped and injured with the most rudimentary of equipment – plastering trowels, sledgehammers, ropes and small drills.
“The tight siege stops civil defence equipment from getting in,” says one.
They added: “So we are taking much longer to respond to these events. Time is a factor in getting these people out. So we call immediately for the necessary equipment to be allowed in for the civil defence to use.”
The IDF say they are investigating the circumstances around the Jundia family as a result of our enquiries.
In relation to the access of heavy equipment into Gaza, they say they work closely with international aid organisations to enable the delivery of humanitarian activities in accordance with international law.
The last contact Jundia had from beneath the rubble was a phone call from his uncle Ziad, three days after the strike.
“The line was open for 25 seconds then it went dead. We don’t know what happened. We tried to call, but there was no answer,” he says.
He and his family were displaced several times before they returned home to Shujaiyya – to Rafah in the south, then Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.
Along the way, Jundia lost one brother and a nephew to Israeli bombs.
Read more:
Israeli air strike hits Gaza hospital
Red dye dumped into US embassy in Israel protest
Israel shot at ambulances over ‘perceived threat’
“We were happy and all the family came back. We went back to our house. It was damaged, but we improvised and we lived in it. We have nothing to do with the resistance. We are not interested in wars. But we have been gravely harmed,” he says.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway