Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery

Sidon, Lebanon: Rescuers did not expect to find two year old Ali Khalifeh alive after an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed his entire family a...

Sidon, Lebanon: Rescuers did not expect to find two-year-old Ali Khalifeh alive after an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed his entire family and left him trapped under the rubble for 14 hours.

Amputated, bandaged and hooked to a respirator in a hospital bed that was way too big for him, "Ali is the sole survivor of his family," said Hussein Khalifeh, his father's uncle.

The toddler's parents, sister and two grandmothers all perished in the strike on September 29, days after Israel intensified its attacks on Lebanon.

The strike on Sarafand, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of the coastal city of Sidon, flattened an apartment complex and killed 15 people, many of them relatives, according to residents.

"Rescue workers had almost lost hope of finding anyone alive under the rubble," 45-year-old Khalifeh told AFP from the hospital in Sidon where his two-year-old relative was being treated.