Israel Hits Lebanon Children Hard

Lebanese children are taking the full brunt of the relentless Israeli onslaught.(Reuters)

"I put my arms around my head and covered my eyes. I could feel sand and dirt falling around me," 10-year-old Ali told Reuters recalling the Israeli attack on his village in south Lebanon.

As he was being taken by a Beirut hospital staff to treat the wounds he had sustained in the Israeli attack, Ali was unable to remember when his Blida village was hit.

"The wounds were the only thing I could think about. The shell landed between my father and sister. They had the worst injuries," said the child.

One of his two baby sisters laughed and played in her cot nearby, a bandage covering the wound where the blast had sliced off her thumb.

A hospital worker read a story to another of his sisters whose head was wrapped in bandages.

Children account for more than a third of hundreds of people killed and half of the 800,000 displaced since Israel launched a wide-scale onslaught on Lebanon on the pretext of seeking the release of two soldiers taken prisoner by Hizbullah.

Lebanon's hard-won infrastructure has also been left in ruins, with Israel knocking out Beirut international airport, bombing ports, destroying bridges and setting power stations ablaze.

"Hitting Us"

Jaafar Harb, 10, narrowly survived an Israeli attack in the southern village of Bint Jbeil.

"A shell flew over our house, but didn't fall on it," he said, imitating the noise he heard as it flew past his home.

"They kept hitting us."

A Lebanese child stands inside a refugee shelter in Beirut, Lebanon. (Reuters)

Bint Jbail, a major town, is about 2 kilometers north of the hilltop village of Maroun al-Ras, which is less than 500 meters from the border.

It has been a scene of fierce fighting between Hizbullah resistance fighters and the invading Israeli troops.

At least 13 Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday, July 26, in fierce battles with Hizbullah fighters in the area.

Unfazed

In the yard of the college building, volunteers were organizing story telling, drawing and games for the traumatized children.

The activities, an effort to restore an element of normality to the children's lives, were interrupted by the thunder of Israeli air strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The children scattered. Some laughed, a few cried, but most appeared unfazed by the explosions that shook Beirut.

"We stayed in our home through three days of bombing," said Mohammed Said, 13, a Palestinian from Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in the southern suburbs.

"I was scared the first time I heard the bombing. Now I'm just afraid for my younger brothers and sisters."

Children who escape physical harm are still likely to suffer long-term psychological damage.

Volunteer psychologists are working with the displaced children to try to limit the damage.

"As much as possible we are trying to alleviate the symptoms and the effects of the war which are common in many children in these circumstances -- depression and alienation," said psychologist Ola Attayeh.