MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It's been one week since Israel's military struck more than a hundred times in 10 minutes across Lebanon, striking what it called Hezbollah targets. Those strikes killed more than 300 people, including many in the center of Beirut. Some people are still missing. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf spent time with one family in the city still searching the rubble for their 26-year-old daughter.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: The neighborhood of Ain Mreisseh sits tucked next to the Mediterranean Sea, a busy, bustling area filled with high-rise apartment buildings, hotels and restaurants. But last Wednesday, it also became the site of one of dozens of Israeli strikes across the country, which hit the first floor of a six-story apartment building here just after 2 p.m. The blast tore the building in two. Half of it collapsed. When we first visit the site five days later, a giant mound of rubble spills onto the sidewalks. It's littered with broken glass and personal items.
There's stuffed animals, toothbrushes, shoes, backpacks. There's a couch, a fridge. You can just see little glimpses of all the people's lives who lived in this building.
A small crew of construction workers chips away at the skeleton of the building. Thirty-six-year-old Ali Abboud (ph) stands nearby watching. He says he's been coming here every day.
ALI ABBOUD: From morning to evening.
LONSDORF: His 26-year-old sister, Zahraa Abboud (ph), was living here. She's still missing. When Israel launched its military invasion into southern Lebanon last month after Hezbollah resumed its rocket attacks into Israel, Zahraa and their other sister, Malak (ph), and one of their aunts fled and came here to Beirut to stay with another aunt in this building.
A ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "This is supposed to be a very safe area," Abboud says. He says when the strike happened, one of his aunts was in the kitchen making lunch with the family's Ethiopian domestic worker.
A ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: Both their bodies were found in the rubble, along with his 92-year-old uncle and his other aunt as well. His older sister, Malak, was pulled out alive. The next morning, a metal rod had pierced her skull. She's now recovering in a hospital. But Zahraa has not been found.
A ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: He says Zahraa was incredibly kind and smart, getting her masters in biochemistry.
A ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "You're used to having a full, complete family," he says, "it's the most precious thing."
A ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "And then, suddenly, you get a call. And you're looking for your sister's body between corpses in the morgue," he says. Israel says a majority of those killed in Wednesday's strikes across Lebanon were Hezbollah fighters. Lebanon says most were unarmed civilians. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to NPR's request about the strike on this specific residential building. Nearly all of the remains found at this site have been women and children. Many are still being identified through DNA testing.
On the other side of the site, we find 26-year-old Hassan (ph). He asked to only be identified by his first name, as he works for the government and is not allowed to speak to the media. He's a neighbor from a nearby building who's been helping sift through the rubble. He says recovery crews have been here with excavators, but Zahraa is the only one still missing from the building.
HASSAN: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "We found her phone and purse over there," he says, pointing.
HASSAN: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "It's the least we can do," he says. The next evening, we meet Zahraa's 60-year-old father, Qassem Abboud (ph), at a sidewalk cafe outside one of the main hospitals in Beirut. He's just finished visiting his other daughter as she recovers.
QASSEM ABBOUD: (Speaking Arabic).
LONSDORF: He says he hasn't slept much in the past week.
Q ABBOUD: (Speaking Arabic).
LONSDORF: Qassem and several other family members have been checking all the hospitals for Zahraa's body.
Q ABBOUD: (Speaking Arabic).
LONSDORF: "In the beginning," he says, "you're searching for a body. But then you start looking for limbs. And then, as you lose hope, you start looking for pieces."
Q ABBOUD: (Speaking Arabic).
LONSDORF: He says, earlier that day, they think they found a hand in a hospital morgue that might be hers. It was hard to tell. Now they're waiting for the DNA testing. It could take weeks.
Q ABBOUD: (Speaking Arabic).
LONSDORF: "What really frays your nerves is the waiting," he says. He says he hopes they can find Zahraa soon. He needs to give her a proper funeral.
Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Beirut. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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