Two days ago, Qassem al-Qadi went out to get bread for his family. But when he returned, his whole life had vanished. An Israeli raid hit his home in eastern Lebanon, taking away his wife, children and their families in a second.
Of the 17 people in the family, Qassem al-Qadi, 57, and his son Hussein, a soldier in the Lebanese army, are the only survivors. The latter had left home to return to his post before the attack which took place on Sunday, according to the national news agency Ani.
“It was 11 a.m., we were all sitting in front of the house, then I went to buy them bread,” the distraught father told AFP from his car in the company of his son, the only survivor.
While he was still in the bakery, he heard a loud explosion. “I started calling them, then I came home… I found no one, just rubble. »
When he talks about the “17 martyrs” of his house, he bursts into tears. His eldest son, Mohammed, 38, worked as an electrician, while his other sons, Ali and Mahdi, worked the land and looked after the herds.
When talking about his grandchildren, Qassem struggles to pronounce their names: there were seven of them, aged from two and a half to nine years old. Her two daughters, Zainab and Fatima, aged 22 and 18 respectively, were university students.
“Massacre”
Now, devastated and homeless, he finds himself forced to sleep with his son in the fields. “I no longer have a home, I am on the street. Where are we going? » he asks himself.
Hussein is overwhelmed by shock. In addition to his family, he lost his fiancée, with whom he was to marry on October 12. “She left before me… in a massacre,” he confides, his voice trembling.
“Within an hour, I heard the news and I came home… It’s unimaginable pain. Two hours ago I was with them, and now there is no one left,” he said, still in shock. “We felt safe here, there was nothing,” he adds, referring to the Hezbollah positions that Israel says it is targeting.
Since Israeli raids intensified in Lebanon more than a week ago, similar stories have been repeated, affecting families in the south and east of the country. According to Ani, at least four families suffered the same fate last week.
The NGO Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday that Israeli strikes in Lebanon exposed civilians to serious danger.
Lama Fakih, director for the Middle East and North Africa, recalled that “a Hezbollah leader, a rocket launch pad or any other military installation located in a populated area does not justify striking without consideration for civilians.”
“Inconceivable”
At a press conference on September 24, Lebanon’s health minister said that “the vast majority” of victims of heavy bombing in southern and eastern Lebanon were unarmed people at home.
More than 1,000 people, including many civilians, have been killed since mid-September, according to Lebanese authorities.
Najah Diab lost ten members of her family in the village of Daoudieh, near Saida. An Israeli strike destroyed their home on Monday.
In the strike, Najah lost her mother, her sister, her cousin, her niece and her four brothers, as well as the family of one of them.
She explains that her mother, aged 75, never left the house and that her older brother, who was sick, did not have a job. His nephew, a student, is the only survivor.
“They were looking out the window when the bomb fell. The building has collapsed, their bodies are in pieces. We collected human remains,” she said, stunned.
“They were civilians, unrelated to any group. It’s inconceivable. »
“If there had been anyone else in the building, they wouldn’t have stayed. They felt safe because they were civilians, with no one around them, and they never left their house. »