BEIRUT (AP) – Israeli forces attacked outside the gates of a southern Lebanon hospital on Friday without warning, killing seven paramedics and forcing the facility to close, the hospital director said in the deadliest attack. He spoke to The Associated Press a day after one of the major health disasters. Workers have said this in the weeks since fighting has escalated between Israel and Hezbollah.
Friday’s airstrike knocked hospital doors off their hinges and shattered glass The report is the latest to reveal details of the attack, which Lebanon’s health ministry said killed dozens of medical workers. Ta.
Munes Karakesh, director of Marjayun Hospital, said that even before Friday’s attack, emergency workers in the area had been reluctant to work, so the facility had not received any injured people for several days.
“We are not able to work. There was fear and panic among the staff,” he said.
Karakesh said the government hospital had not received any warning from the Israeli military before the attack, although nearby villages had been warned to evacuate.
Israel has not commented specifically on the incident. Friday’s attack came after Israel’s Arabic-speaking military spokesperson accused Hezbollah, an extremist group based in southern Lebanon, of using the ambulances to transport weapons and fighters, and warned medical teams to approach the group. It happened a few hours ago which I warned not to do. A spokesperson provided no evidence.
Lebanese officials and hospital directors, including Karakesh, deny the charges. Lebanon’s health minister accused Israel of committing “war crimes” by targeting medical teams and emergency workers.
The Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli attacks had killed 40 paramedics, firefighters and medical workers over three days, further complicating care for those injured in the fierce fighting.
The ministry said more than 100 medical workers had been killed in the year since the war in Gaza began and Israel and Hezbollah intensified gunfire along the border.
Islamic Health Board paramedics are part of the Ministry of Health’s coordinated response to the crisis in Lebanon. Other civil defense teams have also expressed concern for their safety, with some saying they were attacked while clearly working in the area transporting wounded and fighting fires. Some people are.
Karakesh said Israeli military attacks had landed near Marjayoun Hospital before, but never this close. He explained that emergency workers were dying inside the burning vehicle.
The 45-bed hospital is currently closed.
“I am in charge of this staff. I have to protect them,” Karakesh said, explaining his decision to evacuate. There were 30 staff members at the hospital at the time of Friday’s attack. His team was already exhausted after a year of working near the front lines.
Other groups have also expressed concerns.
A Lebanese Red Cross convoy escorted by the Lebanese army and working with UN peacekeepers in Lebanon came under shelling on Thursday. One Lebanese soldier was killed and four Red Cross volunteers were injured.
Separately on Thursday, Israeli forces attacked Islamic Health Committee rescue teams in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the southern village of Odeisa, killing at least four people.
Mahmoud Karaki, a spokesman for the Islamic Health Committee, told The Associated Press that targeting the health sector would undermine the public’s safety net. He said 145 of his team members have been injured in the past year.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said nine hospitals and 45 medical centers were damaged during that time.
Hours after Friday’s attack outside Marjayoun Hospital, another hospital in the southern town of Bint Jbeir came under Israeli shelling after being ordered to evacuate. Nine medical and nursing staff at Salah Ghandour Hospital were injured, most of them seriously.
The hospital has since closed due to damage.
