BEIRUT: Wrapped in gauze from her head to her tiny toes, toddler Ivana Skayki lies nearly motionless in a hospital bed much too big for her. For weeks, she has been treated for severe burns sustained in Israeli strikes on her hometown in southern Lebanon.
Skayki, who turns two next month, sustained burns to nearly 40 percent of her body, including half of her face, her chest and both upper limbs, according to Ziad Sleiman, plastic surgeon at the specialist burn unit in Beirut’s Geitaoui Hospital.
The unit is the only one across Lebanon equipped to deal with burns. Its hallways echo with the screams of children as anxious parents await news from doctors.
Ivana’s father Mohammad told Reuters his daughter was burned in Israeli strikes as they prepared to flee their hometown of Al-Aliyah on Sept. 23, the day that Israel dramatically ramped up its strikes on Lebanon.
More than 550 people were killed that day alone, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
“There was a hit, the house shook — everything was breaking, the windows, the roof, everything, the blast was in my house,” Skayki recalled. “I thought to myself, ‘this could be it, this could be the end.’“
Israel says it makes all possible efforts to avoid civilian casualties and accuses Hezbollah of deliberately basing its fighters in residential areas and using civilians as human shields. Hezbollah has denied the accusation.
The family managed to flee to the southern port city of Tyre, where Ivana got initial treatment. They moved again to another hospital, but with no department there for burns, Ivana only got partial treatment before they could reach Beirut.
Sleiman said Ivana had received skin-graft operations and could be released within days. She still has deep red marks on her face, where some of her skin is peeling.
The hospital has admitted eight children with third-degree burns to half their bodies. It has had to be selective compared to other patients, Sleiman said, because it is short of space.
Geitaoui Hospital’s burn unit has a typical capacity of nine beds, but has managed to increase to 25 with help from the health ministry to cope with the influx of patients, said the hospital’s medical director Naji Abi Rached.
Most patients stay for up to six weeks because of their critical condition.
“Sometimes the outcome is not positive, due to the extent of the burns,” Abi Rached said.
Lebanon’s only burn unit treats toddlers after Israeli strikes
https://arab.news/jp43w
Lebanon’s only burn unit treats toddlers after Israeli strikes
- The unit is the only one across Lebanon equipped to deal with burns and its hallways echo with the screams of children
Voter registration closes for West Bank municipal elections: Palestinian official
- Officials argue that strengthening local government, improving service delivery and renewing council mandates can help rebuild public trust at a time when the PA faces widespread criticism over corruption, stagnation and declining legitimacy
- Hamas boycotted the previous municipal elections held in 2021-2022 after the PA postponed long-overdue parliamentary and presidential polls, deepening an internal Palestinian political split
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Voter registration closed across the West Bank on Sunday ahead of municipal elections on April 25, when Palestinians will cast ballots to elect 420 local councils, a rare democratic exercise in the Israeli-occupied territory.
Voting will also take place in central Gaza for the Deir Al-Balah council, a spokesman for the Ramallah-based Central Election Commission told AFP.
“The elections in both the West Bank and in (Deir el-Balah) Gaza will be organized on April 25,” Farid Tumallah said.
“Registration of candidates will open on February 23 for a period of one week,” he added.
President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement is widely expected to dominate candidate lists, with the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority exercising tight political control.
It remains unclear whether Hamas, the Islamist group that governs parts of the Gaza Strip not occupied by Israeli forces, will participate.
Hamas boycotted the previous municipal elections held in 2021-2022 after the PA postponed long-overdue parliamentary and presidential polls, deepening an internal Palestinian political split.
Fatah and Hamas relations broke down in 2007, when Hamas seized control of Gaza following a brief but bloody clashes, leaving the Palestinian territories divided between the two factions.
The Islamist group had won the parliamentary elections the previous year, the last time they were held.
“Organizing elections in Gaza is logistically challenging. We are trying to develop special procedures for voting and elections in Deir Al-Balah,” Tumallah said, without elaborating.
“Holding elections in the remaining municipalities of the Gaza Strip is not currently feasible due to compelling security and logistical circumstances,” the commission said in a statement.
This year’s municipal elections are being closely watched as part of what Abbas has described as a reform and renewal process within the PA, pledged amid growing international pressure for greater accountability, improved governance and political inclusion.
Western and regional donors have increasingly tied financial and diplomatic support to visible reforms, particularly at the local governance level, as national elections remain frozen.
With no presidential or legislative elections held since 2006, municipal councils have become one of the few functioning democratic institutions under PA administration.
Officials argue that strengthening local government, improving service delivery and renewing council mandates can help rebuild public trust at a time when the PA faces widespread criticism over corruption, stagnation and declining legitimacy.
The Fatah-dominated PA controls parts of the West Bank, while Gaza has been devastated by nearly two years of war following Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
The war has further complicated Palestinian political reconciliation and electoral planning.
Municipal councils are responsible for basic services such as water, sanitation and local infrastructure and don’t enact legislation.
While many candidate lists are aligned with political factions, independent lists are also permitted to run.
