Israel strikes target rescuers in Dahieh and south, killing 6
An Israeli airstrike on first responders in south Lebanon has killed five paramedics and two hospitals are ceasing operations due to the intensity of attacks.
The head of the Marjayoun government hospital, Mounes Kalakesh, told The Associated Press that five paramedics were killed and seven were wounded in the drone strike Friday near the hospital.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that the staff of the hospital in Marjayoun were evacuated leaving the medical center out of service. A state-run hospital in the border village of Mays al-Jabal has also said it is ceasing activities, after staff were evacuated and because of a lack of fuel, medicine and electricity.
An Israeli strike earlier on Friday killed a rescuer at the site of an overnight air raid in south Beirut.
After massive Israeli strikes overnight in Dahieh, "Israeli aircraft targeted civil defense teams who were working to remove the rubble and rescue the wounded, leading to the death of a civil defense member," the group said. A source close to Hezbollah earlier told AFP the strike was carried out with a drone.
Hezbollah accused Israel of deliberately targeting civil defense teams.
- 28 health workers killed in one day -
The World Health Organization says 28 health workers in Lebanon have been killed in the past day, and it called for a ceasefire.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described a dire situation in treating casualties, with three dozen health facilities closed in southern Lebanon and five hospitals either partly or fully evacuated in Beirut.
Tedros says health workers are not showing up at their jobs because they’ve fled areas that have been bombed.
WHO had to scrap plans to fly in medical and trauma supplies Friday because the Beirut airport is mostly closed.
“WHO calls for a de-escalation of the conflict, for health care to be protected and not attacked, for access routes to be secured and supplies delivered,” Tedros said. “And for a ceasefire, a political solution and peace. The best medicine is peace.”
- 108 paramedics killed -
Lebanon’s health minister said Thursday nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in almost a year of conflict.
He said of the 1,974 killed, 261 were women, 127 were children, and 102 paramedics and health care workers also died. Most of them were killed in the last month.
“This is a war crime, there is no doubt about that,” Abiad told journalists Thursday. “International laws are clear to protect these people, I mean, paramedics. Who gave Israel the right to be the judge and the executioner at the same time?”
- 3 hospitals suspend services -
Three hospitals in Lebanon including one on the outskirts of Beirut's southern suburbs announced Friday the suspension of work, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.
In statements carried by the official National News Agency, Sainte Therese Hospital near Beirut's southern suburbs reported "huge damage" to the building on Thursday due to Israeli bombardment in the vicinity and the subsequent "halt of hospital services", while two hospitals in the country's south also said services had stopped.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://cdn.naharnet.com/stories/en/308444 |