Israel’s proxy war with Iran is leaving young children in Gaza and Lebanon burned from head to toe

Beirut and Gaza – Displaced Palestinians in a tent camp outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza woke up in the early hours of Tuesday to a blazing fire after an Israeli airstrike. The flames spread quickly from tent to tent. Citizens who had sought shelter in the camp said there was only one fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

Residents and rescue workers tried to rescue people from the flames, but they were unable to save Shaaban Al-Dalou, who was burned alive.

His father Ahmed Al-Dalou also suffered painful burns, but the guilt was eating him alive when CBS News met him on Wednesday, days after the strike.

Al-Dalou said that as the flames swept through the camp, he was faced with an impossible choice.

“I woke up to go to the toilet and when I went back to bed the sound of fighter jets was loud,” he said.

He rushed to find his family, but “I didn’t know who to try to save.”

“I saw Shaaban sitting up and even though he was on fire, I thought he could get up and run away, so I rushed to save my youngest children… I thought everyone was safe.”

Al-Dalou managed to get his youngest son Abdul Rahman and his sister Rahaf to safety, but both Shaaban, who would have turned 20 on Wednesday, and his mother died in the fire.

“Today is Shaaban’s birthday,” the grieving father told CBS News. “He’s celebrating his birthday with his mother in heaven.”

Al-Dalou’s other children were treated for severe burns in a Gaza hospital that was ill-equipped to handle the overwhelming number of casualties.

Every day, more burn victims, young and old, pass through the doors of hospitals across the Palestinian territory.

Layaan Hamadeen, 13, was one of them. She was trying to get food for her family when she was seriously injured in another recent Israeli attack. From her hospital bed, she told CBS News that she just wants to be a teenage girl again.

“I want the war to end,” she said. “I want to wear nice clothes and have nice hair again… and I long for healthy foods like apples and mangoes.”

On Israel’s second front, in its war with Hamas’ ally Hezbollah in Lebanon the death toll is also rising. Israeli planes continue to bomb southern Lebanon and despite the US expressing concern about the bombings in the capital Beirut, there was a new series of attacks around the capital on Wednesday.

Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, has vowed to strike deeper into Israel after a year of rocket and drone attacks targeting the country. Israel says Hezbollah has launched more than 10,000 weapons since October 8, 2023. Although most are intercepted, about four days ago a drone got past Israeli air defenses to hit a military base in the center of the country, killing and wounding four soldiers. dozens of other people.

The Israeli army has vowed to continue attacking Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, saying it is only targeting the group’s weapons and fighters, but the Lebanese Health Ministry says the attacks have killed more than 2,300 people in the past month and another 11,000 people were injured. and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

CBS News visited the only Lebanese hospital with a full burn unit this week and found that it had tripled its usual number of beds to cope with the number of incoming victims.

Like many young people, 11-year-old Hamoodi seemed unable to take his eyes off his phone. It helped him take his mind off the burns on one side of his body.

The phone is also his only connection to his mother, who was being treated at another hospital. They were both injured in an Israeli airstrike. As he sat there scrolling, Hamoodi was still unaware that his father and brother had been killed in the attack.

His aunt Jamal Ibrahim said he asked for it, but she worried the news would be too much for the boy.

The youngest victims of the war are having a particularly difficult time for nurse Ali Humaida.

“It’s terrible to see children in pain,” he said, “especially when there’s not much we can do.”

Little Yvana, only 21 months old, has already learned to fear the men and women in blue scrubs.

She is wrapped in bandages that cover severe burns from head to toe. The slightest touch is unbearable, but the bandage must be changed regularly.

Her mother Fatima Zayoun told CBS News that their home was hit by a rocket more than three weeks ago.

“I saw my daughter on fire,” she said.

Since that day, the mother has been inconsolable.

“I don’t care,” she said. “I just want her to get better.”

CBS News Marwan al-Ghoul contributed to this report.