Woman with toy gun breaks into Beirut bank to take $13,000 in locked savings, says she needs money for sister's cancer treatment

A woman accompanied by activists and brandishing what she said was a toy pistol broke into a Beirut bank branch on Wednesday, taking $13,000 from her locked savings.

Sali Hafez told the local Al-Jadeed TV that she needed the money to fund her sister's cancer treatment. She said she had repeatedly visited the bank to ask for her money and was told she could only receive $200 a month in Lebanese pounds. Hafez said the toy pistol belonged to her nephew.

"I had begged the branch manager before for my money, and I told him my sister was dying, didn't have much time left," she said in the interview. "I reached a point where I had nothing else to lose."