Lebanese short of food, water under Israeli bombs

TYRE, Lebanon, July 20 (Reuters) Ghassan Bourji says he has run out of insulin for his two diabetic children and heart medication for his mother because Israeli bombardment has cut supplies to his village of Rmadiyeh in south Lebanon.

''I'm scared I might lose them,'' the 55-year-old father of four told Reuters by telephone from Rmadiyeh, south of Tyre.

''The situation here is miserable. We need help.'' Many villagers say food, water and medical supplies are dwindling after Israeli air and artillery strikes destroyed roads and bridges in the south, restricting humanitarian aid movement to areas hardest hit in the eight-day-old conflict.

The UN Children's Fund said the fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas has displaced some 400,000 people, who mostly fled their homes to stay with other families.

''The problems in the south are big, big, big,'' said Soha Boustani, UNICEF's spokeswoman in Lebanon. ''If access to the roads leading there remains dangerous, then we will be facing a major humanitarian crisis.'' UNICEF appealed to 7.3 million dollars for the immediate needs of women and children.

Israel's bombardment, in retaliation for Hizbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers, has killed more than 290 Lebanese and hit an array of army and civilian targets across Lebanon. Hizbollah has responded by firing hundreds of rockets across northern Israel, killing 25 people.

UNIFIL, the small UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, yesterday said it had only been able to carry out a small number of logistic and humanitarian convoys to needy villages.

It said the Israeli military has ignored repeated requests for safe passage for convoys carrying supplies to UNIFIL posts and distressed Lebanese civilians.

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