Lebanon’s health ministry announced Friday that six emergency medical workers lost their lives in two separate Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon over a 24-hour period, denouncing the strikes as breaches of international law.
The ministry reported that four paramedics with the Islamic Health Association died in an Israeli attack that occurred overnight from Thursday into Friday in Hanaway, a town in southern Lebanon. A second strike Friday morning claimed the lives of two emergency workers from the Al-Rissala Scouts Association in Deir Qanoun En-Nahr, according to ministry officials.
Israeli military officials did not immediately respond to Reuters’ inquiries about the attacks.
The ministry released video footage purportedly from Deir Qanoun En-Nahr showing two individuals wearing yellow vests assisting someone along a roadside. As an ambulance draws near the pair, a bright flash appears followed by a loud explosion. The same two men are subsequently visible lying on the ground.
Reuters verified the video’s location as the western perimeter of Deir Qanoun En-Nahr by comparing buildings, vegetation and street patterns with archived satellite images of the region.
Ministry officials stated that six people total perished in Deir Qanoun En-Nahr, including the two medical workers and a Syrian child. The community had already suffered an earlier airstrike this week that claimed 14 lives, marking the most deadly single attack since a fragile ceasefire was declared last month.
Since March 2, when the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah launched attacks against Israel in the initial phase of renewed conflict, more than 3,100 people have died in Lebanon.
The casualties include 123 medical personnel, along with over 210 children and nearly 300 women, based on data released by the health ministry Friday.
International humanitarian law provides special protections for emergency responders, medical staff and civilian infrastructure, particularly healthcare facilities.
The World Health Organization reports that multiple hospitals in southern Lebanon have sustained damage or been completely disabled by Israeli strikes.
Thursday saw an Israeli attack near Tebnine Hospital in southern Lebanon that caused damage across all three levels of the facility, affecting the emergency department, intensive care unit, surgical wing and ambulances stationed outside, the health ministry reported.
