The father briefly explains the Israeli missile that caused the daughter’s third burn

This story contains sad details

Ivana’s family was about to flee their home in southern Lebanon. The Israeli missile got there first. Now the two-year-old has third-degree burns on almost half of his body. His head and arms are wrapped in bandages.

Ivana looks lost lying in a full bed in the burn area of ​​Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut. She is small and doll-like, but her cries are very real. As he groans in pain, his father Mohammed Skayki follows his face, trying to distract him.

She tells how her daughter’s skin and flesh melted away.

It was noon, September 23 – the day Israel began its bombing campaign in southern Lebanon, paving the way for its attack a week later. There was no specific order to evacuate his position from the Israeli army, but the explosion was imminent.

“We were ready to move, our things were packed,” said Mohammed.

“The strike was close, 10 meters from our house, near the front door. The house shook. My daughters were playing on the porch. I saw the little one – he was all black from the dust from the missiles. I carried him, something exploded in the house and the ceiling fell.”

Suddenly the family was uprooted from their roots in the city of Deir Qanoun En Nahr. “We left our house and took only phones and fifty dollars,” he said.

The rescuers rushed Ivana to the hospital, along with her older sister Rahaf. The seven-year-old’s injuries were not serious. He has been released from the hospital and has taken refuge with relatives.

Mohammed shows me a photo of Ivana before the strike – her brown eyes wide open, a pink soother in her mouth, her face covered in brown curls. What remains of her hair is now invisible under the bandages. His scars may stay with him for the rest of his life.

But he is recovering according to Dr. Ziad Sleiman, one of the two plastic surgeons in the department.

And Ivana brought some healing to the healers.

“You are very kind. He is very nice, calm,” he said with a warm smile. “Even when we change clothes, he does not scream and cry. He stared at everything around him. So, you see everyone, and I think you know everything. Truly, he is a special, special child. You are brave, very strong.”

He is closely monitored by fire department staff. It is arranged in a circle – there are nurses in the middle, so they can see directly into each of the eight rooms. There is a line of patients waiting to be admitted.

“Every day we receive calls to transfer patients,” said Dr. Sleiman. “We can’t take everyone. We are trying to take children, ladies, severely burned and traumatized patients, to give them the best chance for treatment.”

Most patients present with third degree burns. If you have a fourth degree burn he says “you will see a black limb, like wood” and there is no treatment, only amputation.

Lebanon’s health system is itself a victim of war, under Israeli attack. The UN’s World Health Organization has confirmed 23 health attacks last month, resulting in 72 deaths.

Lebanon’s health ministry recorded “55 enemy attacks on hospitals and 201 on emergency medical professionals”. It says Israel’s attacks on health workers, facilities, and institutions are “clear violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the Geneva Conventions.”

In recent days we reported from the site of an Israeli airstrike across the street from Lebanon’s largest public hospital, Rafik Hariri, in Beirut. Several residential buildings were destroyed, 18 people died, four of them children. No warning was given.

The Israel Defense Forces told the BBC that they had “targeted Hezbollah, a terrorist organization” which they said was “exploiting ambulances and other medical infrastructure.” They deny targeting medical personnel.

So far, more than 30 workers in the fire department are still starting work every day. None of them have been fired, but there is a new normal in Beirut – traffic jams by day, bombings by night. That takes a toll.

“To be honest, it is very difficult to deal with patients who are traumatized and burned because of the war,” said Dr. Sleiman. “We don’t have soldiers here; all victims are civilians. We have ladies, we have girls, we have children. It’s not their story, it’s their fight. We as doctors must remain strong. But we have hearts. We have children.”

Before I left I asked Ivana’s father if he had anything to say to those responsible for maiming his little girl. He thought for a moment before answering in a measured and tired voice.

“I’m not happy. A soldier’s soldier, not a common man. These children, children”, he said referring to Ivana. “I’m not happy but what can I do? I don’t want to be a murderer like them.”

Ivana has already had skin grafts – on her lower limbs – and they will be removed in about 10 days. His family is still full of accommodation. They cannot return home to the south, which is under heavy Israeli bombardment.

Dr. Sleiman fears that there will be more Ivanas.

He does not see the end of this war. When it comes, it believes that there will be no victory. For anyone.

He says: “There is no war that ends with who will win.” “All wars end with many losers. Everyone will lose.”