A truck and ambulance burn after Israeli airstrikes hit a bunch of paramedics exterior a hospital in Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, on Friday October. 4, 2024. | Photograph credit score: AP
The Israeli navy attacked exterior the gates of a hospital in southern Lebanon with out warning on Friday (Oct. 4, 2024), killing seven paramedics and forcing the power to shut, the hospital’s director advised The Related Press a day after one of many deadliest assaults on well being staff within the weeks since combating between Israel and Hezbollah intensified.
The account of Friday’s (October 4, 2024) airstrikes that knocked down hospital doorways and shattered home windows was the most recent to element assaults that Lebanon’s Well being Ministry says have killed dozens of well being staff.
Assault on a well being middle in Lebanon
Marjayoun hospital director Mounes Kalakesh stated that even earlier than Friday’s assault, ambulance crews within the space had been so reluctant to function that the power had not acquired any casualties for days.
“We’ve got not been in a position to work. “There was worry and panic among the many employees,” he stated.
Kalakesh stated the federal government hospital didn’t obtain any warning from Israeli forces earlier than the assault, regardless that close by villages did obtain evacuation warnings.
Israel has not commented particularly on the incident. Friday’s assault got here hours earlier than Israel’s Arabic-language navy spokesman accused the militant group Hezbollah, primarily based in southern Lebanon, of utilizing ambulances to move weapons and fighters, and warned medical groups to remain away. away from the group. The spokesperson didn’t present proof.
It’s an allegation that Lebanese hospital officers and administrators, together with Kalakesh, deny. Lebanon’s Well being Minister accused Israel of committing “a struggle crime” by attacking medical and paramedical groups.
On Thursday (October 3, 2024), the Well being Ministry stated that 40 paramedics, firefighters and well being staff had been killed in Israeli assaults over three days, making it much more tough to look after individuals injured within the intense combating.
The ministry has stated greater than 100 well being staff have been killed within the yr for the reason that struggle in Gaza started and since Israel and Hezbollah escalated exchanges of fireside alongside the border.
The Islamic Well being Committee paramedics are a part of the Ministry of Well being’s coordinated response to crises in Lebanon. Different civil protection groups have expressed concern for his or her security, with some saying they had been attacked whereas clearly recognized and working in areas the place they had been transporting the wounded or placing out fires.
Israeli strikes had landed close to the Marjayoun hospital earlier than, however that they had by no means been this shut, Kalakesh stated. He described paramedics dying of their burning automobiles.
45-bed hospital closed
“I’m answerable for this employees. I need to defend them,” Kalakesh stated, explaining the choice to evacuate. There have been 30 employees within the hospital on the time of Friday’s assault. His staff was already exhausted after a yr of working near the entrance strains.
Different teams have expressed concern.
A Lebanese Purple Cross convoy, escorted by Lebanese troops and coordinated with the UN peacekeeping pressure in Lebanon, was attacked on Thursday (3 October 2024). One Lebanese soldier was killed and 4 Purple Cross volunteers had been injured.
Individually, on Thursday (October 3, 2024), Israeli forces attacked Islamic Well being Committee rescue groups within the southern suburbs of Beirut and the southern village of Odeissah, killing no less than 4.
In Odeissah, responding ambulances had been hit by Israeli hearth and three docs who had been wounded within the preliminary assault died when rescuers tried to achieve them, the Well being Ministry stated. Within the suburbs of Beirut, the staff working to clear particles from the preliminary airstrike was hit by a drone strike that killed one driver and wounded seven, Islamic Well being Committee spokesman Mahmoud Karaki stated.
Focusing on the well being sector undermines the security internet for the general public, Karaki stated. He stated 145 of his staff members had been injured over the previous yr.
Lebanon’s Well being Ministry has stated 9 hospitals and 45 healthcare facilities had been broken throughout that point.
Hours after Friday’s (October 4, 2024) assault in entrance of the Marjayoun hospital, one other hospital within the southern city of Bint Jbeil was shelled by Israeli forces after receiving an evacuation warning. 9 medical and nursing employees at Salah Ghandour Hospital had been injured, most of them severely.
The hospital later closed on account of injury.
Printed – October 6, 2024 08:34 am IST