'God Stop the Bombs!'

Photos
Bombs Shake Hospital Shelter
Nearly 1,500 people seeking shelter from Israeli airstrikes crowd together at Tibnin General Hospital in southern Lebanon. Tibnin, near the Israeli border, endures Israeli bombing without doctors, running water or electricity.

Southern Lebanon, already the country's poorest region, has suffered the war's greatest toll. In the hospital, the desperation was woven with a sense of abandonment, directed at virtually everyone except Hezbollah.

"What's the Lebanese government providing us?" asked Hassan Hamza, a 19-year-old from Tibnin, here for 13 days.

Others joined the conversation.

"The government only loves the Americans," said his friend, Assem.

"It only loves money and the Americans," Hamza said.

Hoda Fawwaz, a 50-year-old from Tibnin, approached the group. She carried a small, blue radio, its batteries still working.

"It's the resistance that loves the people," she said. "It's the only one that protects the children and the young."

Down the hall, Faris carried her 3-day-old son, Khattar, and an empty bottle with a blue cap. She gave birth to him at 10 p.m. Saturday in Bint Jbeil. By 7 the next morning, she, her husband, Mohammed, her sons Aissa and Mustafa and her daughter, Israa, were walking to Tibnin. They arrived by noon, stopping along the way when bombing was especially fierce.

Mohammed said they brought nothing but the clothes they were wearing. As he talked, Israa slept on his shoulder.

He pleaded for help: He had relatives in Beirut, he could take care of himself there. He needed just one thing: a ride.

"We have to leave today," he said, his thick, black hair streaked with gray. "We can't stay here any longer."