Lebanon accuses Israel of deliberately targeting medics
The Lebanese Health Ministry has accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of deliberately targeting medics during airstrikes on the country.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue to intensify despite a US-brokered ceasefire between the sides, which took effect in mid-April.
The latest wave of IDF strikes on Lebanon left 51 people dead, including two medics, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
“The Israeli enemy continues to violate international laws and humanitarian norms, adding more crimes against paramedics, as it directly targeted two points of the Health Authority in Qalawiya and Tibnin, Bint Jbeil district, in two raids,” the statement read.
According to the ministry’s data, 2,846 people were killed when Israel launched its military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon on March 2, just days after attacking Iran together with the US. More than 550 of those deaths occurred after the truce had been introduced.
The UN said earlier that at least 103 Lebanese medical workers have been killed and 230 injured in more than 130 IDF strikes during the current escalation.
Israel already faces accusations of deliberately hitting ambulances and hospitals during the conflict in Gaza, with West Jerusalem saying they were targeted due to being used by Palestinian armed group Hamas.
War surgeon Tahir Mohammed, who worked in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, told Al Jazeera that “we used to see our colleagues in Gaza come through the door all the time. I’ve had colleagues, nurses, medical students killed by Israeli weapons, and so to see the same policy of targeting healthcare workers in Lebanon… it’s consistent.”
The IDF said on Sunday that it targeted more than 20 facilities of Hezbollah in several areas of southern Lebanon, including weapons depots, command centers and other “buildings used for military purposes.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Al-Arabiya the same day that a total of 86 villages in the south of the country remain under Israeli occupation. The Lebanese city of Bint Jbeil has become “a copy of Gaza” due to the vast scale of destruction, he said.
According to Salam, Beirut is open to a peace deal with West Jerusalem once its key terms, including the withdrawal of IDF troops, are met.
