Orphan girls in south Lebanon try to rebuild lives
Girls at an orphanage in Tebnin, southern Lebanon, are coping with grief and damage after months of conflict with Israel. Lebanon's health ministry says Israeli strikes have killed more than 4,000 people in the country since March.
Inaya Sultan, 13, lost her father, a paramedic, in an Israeli strike in March. She lives at the orphanage with about 40 other girls. She said she lets herself cry a little when she is sad, but not in front of her four-year-old half-sister, Malak.
Head caretaker Fatima Jaffal, 30, said the girls returned to find Israeli troops less than a kilometre away. She said life must go on and the girls are stronger than the war. Shereen Saad, 19, studies interior design while she lives there.
Orphanage director Ali Saad said the building needs repairs and funding. He said frequent donations from UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon will stop when their mandate ends later this year.
The health ministry says Israeli strikes since March have killed more than 700 paramedics, children and women. Israel says it seized a security zone in southern Lebanon to protect its citizens. The Israeli military says it does not deliberately target civilian infrastructure, and accuses Hezbollah of placing military equipment in civilian areas. Hezbollah denies this.
Key facts
- Who
- Inaya Sultan (13-year-old orphanage resident whose father, a paramedic, was killed in an…); Malak (Inaya Sultan's four-year-old half-sister); Shirin Saad (19-year-old orphanage resident studying interior design); Shereen Saad (19-year-old orphanage resident studying interior design)
- When
- 5 November 2026
- Where
- Tebnin, southern Lebanon, Lebanon
- Status
- Reported