A week after Israel "escalated" its indiscriminate attacks on Lebanon, starting with a string of pager and walkie-talkie attacks that killed dozens of people and wounded thousands, followed by blanket bombing throughout the country that has a rising death toll of at least 600 people, gestures of solidarity focused on medical needs by healthcare workers, blood donors and others, have been immense.
Dr Samir Daher, a maxillofacial and plastic surgeon at Beirut's Zahraa Hospital, says he received 190 cases following the pager attacks, and the cases had not stopped since. "We have been working pro bono for the most part, especially in the first emergency aid phase, which is the most common. Additional intensive care is dealt with accordingly, but our prime focus now is to tend to the wounded," Dr Daher told The New Arab.
The Lebanese people across the country have been rushing to show support to those wounded and displaced by the recent increased violence by Israel, expressing solidarity that transcends political and sectarian differences that have long marred life in the tiny country.
"I am secular, but my wife belongs to a religious sect," said Daher. "I believe in humanity. I work at Saint Therese Hospital, where ambulances arrive from all regions, especially from Shia areas. My fellow doctors and medical staff are from all sects and backgrounds. We must work in solidarity for the common good."
Those unable to tend to the wounded, are offering whatever they can to help. Following last week's attacks, Mirna Sabra, a Christian resident of the Shia-dominated south, took to social media platforms, offering a kidney to the wounded.
"It's the least we can do to a wounded young man who gave his blood and limbs in defence of the nation and resistance. I still live in the south thanks to them," she wrote.
Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian refugees have also been donating blood in response to appeals from hospitals, while others offered rooms in their homes to those whose homes were destroyed. Women from the predominantly Christian Ashrafieh district visited the wounded and brought food and drink.
The response was overwhelming, according to Walid Al-Zoubi, president of the Nahdat Akkar NGO, who said they had to halt the blood donation drive soon after it began because of the turnout.
"We didn't have enough medical staff, equipment, or blood bags at the Abdullah Al-Rassi Governmental Hospital, so we had to stop, but we resumed the next day when supplies were transported to Beirut," said Al-Zoubi.
The ongoing war pitting the Lebanese military group of Hezbollah against Israel had stoked conflicting sentiments amongst the multi-faith nation, with many supporting Shia group for its stance in supporting Gaza by picking up arms against Israel's genocide, while others blamed it for dragging the economically-distraught Lebanon into a war that is not theirs.
But social unity, despite all odds, has withstood all differences.
"The donors were Sunni and Christian. It is the least we can do for our people," said Al-Zoubi.
Christian civil society activist Anton Safar gathered a group of 17 people and headed to "Hotel Dieu" hospital in Ashrafieh right after last week’s attacks to donate blood to 40 injured in pager explosions.
"Priority was for negative blood types, but everyone donated, some even gave medical equipment or offered their homes," he said.
Maryam Bilal, an activist who lives in the Muawwad area near the site of one of the Israeli raids in the south, said the solidarity reminds her of the scene following the Beirut port explosion four years ago.
"People from across the country came together to help, regardless of political or sectarian affiliations," said Bilal, recalling how an anonymous person showed up at Roum Hospital where the wounded were transferred, with a fully fuelled generator.
Bilal says others from Tripoli (Sunni) and Zouk Mikael (Christian) invited her and her family to stay at their homes. "Humanity knows no bounds and transcends sects. When we transport the injured, we don't ask about their sects or affiliations. Despite a few dissonant voices, the overall sentiment is one of humanity and shared citizenship," she said.
Dr Fadi Al-Hashem, a urology and reproductive health specialist and the director of Saint Therese Medical Center, said that the hospital reflects his personal beliefs.
"I believe in humanity. It would be shameful in the 21st century to think any other way," he said.
On the day of the Israeli-linked pager explosions, Al-Hashem says the hospital received 150 injured people and performed 25 surgeries at no cost.
"The injuries were to the face and hands, while some were near the waist," explained Al-Hashem. "After the raids, there were different types of injuries."
Dr Mohamed Ibrahim, an orthopaedic surgeon at the same hospital, said that he performed five hand surgeries, and several pelvic procedures as a result of the pager explosions, noting that many patients lost fingers.
This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.