Illlustration by Jaimee Lee Haddad
“I left my home after the airstrike, blood on my feet. I couldn't take anything from the house … not even the crutches that helped me walk.”Fatima Harmoush, one side of her body paralyzed by a childhood battle with polio, was in her home in al-Halaniyeh, in Baalbeck district, on Sept. 23, 2024, when Israel suddenly launched the deadliest bombing campaign of its then 11-month-long war with Hezbollah.Her sister Baria, the primary caregiver for Fatima and their elderly mother, helped them both out of the house and had gone back inside to retrieve some belongings when an Israeli jet bombed it, pinning Baria’s legs under a collapsed wall and throwing a fridge against her head.Fatima used the half of her body she could still control to crawl through the rubble and broken glass and reach her sister, who is now also permanently disabled.“We...
“I left my home after the airstrike, blood on my feet. I couldn't take anything from the house … not even the crutches that helped me walk.”Fatima Harmoush, one side of her body paralyzed by a childhood battle with polio, was in her home in al-Halaniyeh, in Baalbeck district, on Sept. 23, 2024, when Israel suddenly launched the deadliest bombing campaign of its then 11-month-long war with Hezbollah.Her sister Baria, the primary caregiver for Fatima and their elderly mother, helped them both out of the house and had gone back inside to retrieve some belongings when an Israeli jet bombed it, pinning Baria’s legs under a collapsed wall and throwing a fridge against her head.Fatima used the half of her body she could still control to crawl through the rubble and broken glass and reach her sister, who is now also permanently...