AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in Lebanon since Israel intensified its bombing campaign in the country, saying it's targeting and killing Hezbollah operatives. Those with money can find places to stay. But as NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi reports, some sleep on the crowded Beirut streets.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Almaza Hussein (ph) sweeps away cigarette butts and dust from a small space in the middle of a downtown Beirut parking lot. This is where she'll spend the night. The 25-year-old mother of two small children only has a few blankets to sleep under. Her family fled the southern Beirut suburb of Bourj el-Barajneh a few days ago. They tried to find somewhere to sleep in the schools turned to shelters.
ALMAZA HUSSEIN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "We were told they're all full," she says. Hussein is with her friend, 47-year-old Suzanne Merdan (ph), who also fled with her husband and two children. Merdan says they had to run with the clothes on their backs and is now also sleeping in the parking lot.
SUZANNE MERDAN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: Merdan points to a few donated blankets she's folded in a pile on the floor. That's all her family has to cover up at night.
MERDAN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "And it's cold, so much colder than you can imagine," she says. Hussein and Merdan are one of hundreds of thousands who are now homeless. Beirut is straining to accommodate so many in need, say Lebanese officials. The sidewalks in East Beirut overlooking the beach are crowded with tired people in makeshift tents and on the grass.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHILDREN CRYING)
AL-SHALCHI: In the outskirts of Beirut at a huge soccer stadium, the scene is as desperate. Children chase each other in the parking lot littered with trash. As the sound of the Israeli drone hums incessantly overhead, tents made of white tarp fill the concourses. With such limited space, multiple families have to share. Maysoon Maan (ph) now sleeps in a tent with six other people after days on the street. They couldn't stay in their south Beirut neighborhood under constant bombing from Israel. The 45-year-old mother says the stadium is so packed without enough bathrooms. It's unlivable.
MAYSOON MAAN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "We can't bathe," she says. "We can't perform our cleansing in order to pray during Ramadan." In a nearby tent, Ahmed Reda (ph) opens the Velcro flap of his tent where mattresses and blankets are neatly stacked.
AHMED REDA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "We tried to get the kids used to their new reality," he says. Reda, a father of seven, is in a wheelchair. He says he tried to find an apartment to rent or a hotel room, but he kept getting turned away.
REDA: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "They won't take us if our women wear hijab," he says. Some here think religious hijab-wearing Muslims from the south may support Hezbollah, and that could make them a target of Israeli airstrikes. Both Maan and Reda have been at the stadium before. This is the same place where tens of thousands of people packed for former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's funeral last year.
MAAN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "We receive his blessings here," Maan says. "His spirit is all around us." While her support for Hezbollah is unwavering, widespread backing has cracked. Many blame the Iranian-backed militants for dragging Lebanon into this war by launching rockets into Israel.
Back in the downtown Beirut parking structure, Suzanne Merdan tries to keep some sort of order in the part of the concrete lot they've been forced to live in now. Her heart breaks for her children.
MERDAN: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "They're just kids," she says. "What did they do to deserve this?"
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Beirut. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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