‘We felt death’: Survivors recount Israel’s massacre in Beirut
The first thing Abdelwahab noticed was the silence after the blast.
Then came the smoke, the screams - and the realisation that the bodies he was pulling from the rubble belonged to people he knew.
It was shortly after 2pm on Wednesday when across Lebanon, Israeli warplanes had launched a heavy wave of air strikes on densely populated areas, including in Beirut, its southern suburbs, the eastern Beqaa governorate and southern villages.
The simultaneous strikes killed more than 300 people and wounded over 1,150, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
In Corniche el Mazraa, a busy working-class neighbourhood, Abdelwahab, who gave only his first name, had been selling bottled water from his kiosk near Cola roundabout. The 15-year-old was trying to earn money for his mother’s cancer treatment when the explosion hit.
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A man looks at wrecked car following the Israeli strikes on Beirut on 8 April 2026 (MEE/Rita Kabalan)