The living and the dead trapped in Tyre

Ali Akil Hamza, 71, is embraced by his daughter as he returned to his house in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Tuesday. Hamza was captured six days ago by the Israeli army from his home at Jebein. PHOTO: AFP

"This war has taught us a new job," he said, speaking without emotion as he laid aside his hammer and nails.

Like all those who have not wanted -- or been able -- to flee Tyre, the 51-year-old anaesthetist has had to adapt to the Israel siege on the city.

The roads to the east and south are impracticable because of Israeli bombing. The highway north towards Beirut was cut by Monday's destruction of a bridge over the Litani River. And with the blockade, there is no question of taking to the sea, even for the local fishermen.

With casualties pouring in from nearby villages, and the impossibility of handing the dead to their families for traditional funerals, Wazzani has had to turn his hand to coffin-making.

"Last week, we made 110, including 34 small ones for children," said the tall, sprightly doctor wearing green operating room gear.

"Today, we have 82 bodies", he added, nodding towards a stationary refrigerator lorry, which includes the 28 civilians killed by an Israeli air raid on Qana on July 30. Sixteen of the dead from that village, east of Tyre, were children.

With another doctor, Ibrahim Jrady, and five Lebanese army reservists, Wazzani acts as temporary undertaker and registrar.

"We have drawn up lists and write on each coffin, in black ink on a metal plate, a number so that relatives can recognise their loved ones after the war ends, if they want to bury them in their own villages," he said.

If the dead have to wait for their final resting place, the living in Tyre are seeing their own situation deteriorate rapidly. Fighting close to town between the Israeli army and Hezbollah has lasted for four weeks, driving most of their fellow inhabitants to get out.

But even so, the local council estimates that between 15,000 and 20,000 people -- around one-third of the normal population -- remain.

Dr Ghassan Farran, whose house was destroyed in Tyre, has transformed a room in the town hall -- its walls covered in maps and details of civic projects -- into a clinic.

"We are now seeing more and more cases of people suffering skin and respiratory problems," he told AFP as he wrote out a prescription for a little girl.

"It's particularly because of bad food and worsening sanitary conditions."