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At least four hospitals in Lebanon announced Friday they would suspend operations due to Israeli airstrikes, and the Hezbollah-affiliated health agency said 11 emergency workers had died in the past 24 hours.
The four closures end a two-week Israeli strike against hospitals and health workers in Lebanon, which closed at least 37 facilities and killed dozens of medical staff, the World Health Organization said. .
Late Friday night, the Israeli military issued a statement saying Hezbollah was using medical vehicles to transport fighters and weapons, and warned that it would attack vehicles suspected of being used for military purposes.
Hospital staff in southern Lebanon told the BBC that medical facilities treating injured civilians had come under direct Israeli attack. The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment.
Dr Munes Karakish, director of Marjayoun National Hospital in southern Lebanon, told the BBC that the hospital had no choice but to close on Friday after an airstrike on two ambulances at the hospital entrance killed seven paramedics. Ta.
“Nurses and doctors were scared,” he says. “We tried to calm them down and continue working, but it wasn’t possible.”
Dr. Shoshana Mazurani, the hospital’s emergency director, said she was sitting in front of the building when the strike occurred. She said she heard the screams of paramedics running towards the hit and damaged ambulance, but was warned to back off by colleagues who feared further strikes.
Dr. Mazlani said Marjayoun Hospital was already on the brink, with only 20 core team doctors remaining out of the center’s regular staff of 120. Friday’s closure was a “tragedy for the community,” she said.
“We serve a huge population here in many villages. We used to have 45 inpatient beds, but they are all empty now. For example, we are providing dialysis in this area. Our hospital was the only one. We had to turn away emergency patients and tell everyone else to go home.”
Rita Suleiman, director of nursing at St. Thérèse Hospital, on the edge of Beirut’s southern outskirts, told the BBC that the hospital, which was also struggling after suffering heavy damage in Friday’s strike, had since suspended all services. He said he was forced to do so.
Other hospitals continued with severely limited services. Dr Mohamed Hamadeh, the director of Tebnine Hospital, told the BBC on Friday that a nearby strike had shaken the building.
“The explosion was very close,” he said. “We are still trying to operate, but it is too dangerous to leave the hospital grounds.”
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A medical center in central Beirut was damaged on Thursday.
Late Friday night, Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jubail announced it had closed following “heavy shelling” following an Israeli military evacuation order.
The Israeli military said it was targeting a mosque adjacent to a hospital used by Hezbollah fighters.
Attacks on medical facilities are not limited to southern Lebanon. Israel attacked a Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Organization medical center in central Beirut on Thursday, killing nine people and wounding 14 others. The Israeli military said the attack targeted a “terrorist organization.”
The Lebanese Red Cross said on Thursday that four emergency workers were injured in an attack on a convoy evacuating patients, despite working with Israeli forces.
Gabriel Carlson, country manager for British Red Cross Beirut, told the BBC: “Health and aid workers must be able to help people in need without fear for their own safety. The Red Crescent team is a lifeline and is providing support.” The community must work tirelessly and be protected. ”
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday that 28 health workers had died in Lebanon in the past 24 hours, and many others had missed work due to the strike.
Dr Karakish, director of Marjayoun Hospital, told the BBC that the hospital was already operating without anesthesiologists and other specialists before it was shut down due to the strike.
He said some staff fled the bombing for their own safety, while others were unable to reach the hospital because of airstrikes on nearby roads.
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad said Thursday that 97 rescue workers have been killed since Hezbollah and Israel began fighting last October.
More than 40 of them – paramedics and firefighters – arrived in just three days last week, he said.
