Israel vs Iran: Kids in Gaza & Lebanon Burned Alive

In the early hours of Tuesday, a tent camp near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza erupted into chaos. An Israeli airstrike ignited a massive fire, with the flames spreading quickly across the tents. Civilians, many of them already displaced, had nowhere to turn. “There was only one fire extinguisher,” said a camp resident, recalling the frantic attempts to stop the blaze.

Amidst the inferno, rescue workers raced to save lives, but not everyone could be saved. Shaaban Al-Dalou, a young man who was just days away from his 20th birthday, perished in the flames. His father, Ahmed Al-Dalou, was also severely burned. “I woke up to go to the toilet, and when I came back to bed, the sound of warplanes was loud,” Ahmed recounted to CBS News on Wednesday. “I didn’t know who I should try to save.”

Ahmed Al-Dalou suffered agonizing wounds as flames tore through a tent camp in central Gaza after an Israeli airstrike.

As the fire tore through the camp, Ahmed faced the unimaginable task of choosing which family members to rescue. In the frantic moments, he thought his son Shaaban would be able to escape on his own. “I saw Shaaban sitting up and, although he was on fire, I thought he could get up and run,” Ahmed said. He saved his younger children, but Shaaban and his mother did not survive. “Today is Shaaban’s birthday,” the grieving father said. “He is celebrating his birthday with his mother in heaven.”

This is just one of countless heartbreaking stories emerging from Gaza, where Israeli airstrikes continue to claim civilian lives. Overwhelmed hospitals are struggling to treat the rising number of burn victims, many of whom are children. Thirteen-year-old Layaan Hamadeen, severely injured in a recent strike, just wants her life back. “I want the war to end,” she told CBS News from her hospital bed. “I want to wear beautiful clothes and have beautiful hair again… and I long for healthy food like apples and mangos.”

The devastation isn’t confined to Gaza. On Israel’s northern front, its conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon is taking an increasing toll. Israeli jets have been pounding southern Lebanon, and despite concerns voiced by the U.S., fresh strikes around the Lebanese capital of Beirut continued on Wednesday.

Yvana Zayoun, just 21 months old, lays in a bed at the Lebanese Hospital Geitaoui in Beirut, Oct. 14, 2024, where she was being treated for burns to virtually her entire body, sustained in an Israeli airstrike that hit her home.

Backed by Iran, Hezbollah has vowed retaliation, with rocket and drone attacks targeting Israel. Israel claims over 10,000 weapons have been launched by Hezbollah since October 2023. Although most have been intercepted, a drone managed to strike a military base in central Israel four days ago, killing four soldiers and wounding dozens more.

Israeli forces are maintaining their relentless strikes on Hezbollah strongholds, claiming their targets are limited to the group’s fighters and weapons. However, the Lebanese Health Ministry reports that the strikes have killed more than 2,300 people in the past month, with over 11,000 injured, and countless more displaced.

In Lebanon, the humanitarian crisis mirrors the suffering in Gaza. CBS News visited Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut, the only facility equipped with a full burn unit, which has tripled its capacity to deal with the influx of victims. Among the youngest patients is 11-year-old Hamoodi, who survived an Israeli airstrike but suffered burns on one side of his body. As he lay in bed, his phone became his only connection to his mother, who was being treated in another hospital. He didn’t yet know that his father and brother were killed in the same attack.

Layaan Hamadeen, 13, was injured in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza while she was trying to get food for her family.

Hamoodi’s aunt, Jamal Ibrahim, said the boy has been asking for his father and brother, but she fears the truth will be too devastating for him to bear. Nurse Ali Humaida, who has been caring for children like Hamoodi, expressed his own anguish over the situation. “It’s terrible to see children in pain,” he said, “especially when there isn’t much we can do.”

Perhaps the most harrowing story from Geitaoui Hospital is that of 21-month-old Yvana Zayoun. Severely burned from head to toe after a rocket hit her family’s home three weeks ago, Yvana’s tiny body is wrapped in bandages that must be changed regularly, despite the excruciating pain. Her mother, Fatima, has been inconsolable. “I saw my daughter on fire,” she told CBS News. “I don’t care about anything. I just want her to get better.”

Hamoodi, 11, looks at his phone in a bed at the Lebanese Geitaoui Hospital in Beirut, Oct. 14, 2024, where he was being treated for burns covering one side of his body, sustained in an Israeli airstrike.

As Israel’s war with Hamas and Hezbollah continues, the number of innocent lives caught in the crossfire only grows. The human toll is mounting on all sides, and in the tent camps, hospitals, and ravaged homes of Gaza and Lebanon, the suffering feels endless.

For now, families like the Al-Dalous and the Zayouns can only wait, trapped in the cycle of violence that shows no sign of abating. Meanwhile, the world watches as the humanitarian crisis deepens, and the youngest victims of this proxy war between Israel and Iran continue to pay the highest price.