How one family in Lebanon flees Israel’s bombardments and hides in a neighboring wall: A Syrian couple says her husband is terrified of the situation

Children’s laundry hung from some of the classroom windows to dry. But most of the families arrived with nothing at all — only the clothes they were wearing.

One couple sat scrolling through social media videos to try to see whether their home was still standing. For security reasons, they asked to be identified as parents of their eldest son Ali, using the names Um Ali and Abu Ali, which mean Ali’s mother and father, respectively.

“The airstrikes were right next to our cars and the children were screaming and crying,” she says. With her husband’s arm bandaged and in a cast after being hit by shrapnel a month ago from an Israeli airstrike, the mother bundled 10 family members into a car and drove south on Monday.

Soldiers from the army turned a divided highway into a single route north in order to help people flee south Lebanon. A 50-mile drive that would normally take an hour was shortened to seven or eight hours as panicked families filled any car they could find.

Source: Over 90,000 people in Lebanon had to flee Israel’s bombardments this week

The Israeli Air Force strikes on the border village of Dahiya: a border village village in the outskirts of the city

Um Ali says her daughter has been unable to sleep and her heart races because she has not been talking. Standing behind her mother, the girl says she’s OK, but then buries her face in her mother’s shoulder and starts to cry.

“Suddenly someone comes and makes your kids live in a state of fear, blood and destruction,” says her mother. “Nobody accepts living like that — to be humiliated and see their lives torn apart.”

It was too soon for a sense of loss to kick in. Abu Ali and his wife refer to their life in the border village as tense.

Um Ali has a face that is so full of memories of life in the countryside she cannot keep her eyes off it. “We live a happy and beautiful life.”

By the time they reached the southern suburbs late on Monday, where they had planned to stay, Israeli aircraft were launching strikes there too, forcing them to seek shelter in the city center. Israel has repeatedly hit the mostly Shia suburb of Dahiya, targeting Hezbollah commanders but also killing civilians in the densely populated area.

The displaced people in Nabitieh, Lebanese Refugees, arrived early the next day at the Ahliah School

Behind the school, a few boys kick around a blue ball on a concrete soccer field. In the courtyard, two sisters from the border town of Nabitieh sit on a low wall. The younger is 18 — her nails recently manicured in a bright purple. Her sister, 20, has long dark hair that is carefully styled.

She said they didn’t sleep in their clothes during the strikes, but they were able to escape early the next morning.

There are people in the streets. The hotels are also for people who can afford it. At the reception desk of one, a man asked for five rooms — but only for a night until the family figure out their options.

“We have been trying to find an apartment but everyone now wants so much money, or six months in advance,” says a woman, sitting with her sister at one table. They did not want to be identified because of their fear of being targeted by Israel.

The families sit on plastic chairs and share information about the houses they have heard have been destroyed in the southern part of the country.

Many Lebanese fleeing the south took refuge with relatives in Beirut and other places, or searched for apartments to rent. But according to the U.N., about 40,000 of them sought shelter in more than 200 schools, which the Lebanese government asked to accommodate displaced people.

The cars full of tired passengers pulled up on Tuesday outside the metal gates of the century-old Ahliah School. An aid official waved them past other schools that were serving as temporary shelters. There was no room left in the building after more than 600 people arrived in 24 hours.

The first day of classes was supposed to be this morning at the private school. Ahliah had to clear out desks and put them in the hallways to make room for families.

The Israeli-Jewish Campaign against Hamas in Gaza and the Fate of the Hezbollah Campaign in Lebanese

At the U.N., Netanyahu vowed to “continue degrading Hezbollah” until Israel achieves its goals, further dimming hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire.

That has Lebanese fearing a repeat of the last Israel-Hezbollah war, in 2006, which lasted a month and caused heavy destruction over parts of their country. They fear thatLebanon could suffer the devastating effects of the campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

At least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes early Friday, according to the Health Minister. He stated that the dead included women and children.