SIDON, Lebanon (AP) — Like what happened in Gaza, Israeli bombings in Lebanon are devastating the country’s health system, doctors, health workers and human rights groups warn. Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah advances deeper and deeper into southern Lebanon, leaving a trail of closed hospitals, destroyed ambulances and dead medical personnel.
Since Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah was revived on March 2, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 57 health professionals, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. Additionally, Israel has carried out more than 160 attacks against emergency medical personnel and ambulances, and has forced the closure of six hospitals and 49 health clinics with attacks or threats.
Doctor Mohammed Ziara, a burn surgeon originally from Gaza, experienced firsthand the collapse of the Palestinian hospital system and is now seeing the same pattern repeat itself in Lebanon, where he works with the non-profit organization Interburns. “The health system is on its knees. Now front-line hospitals lack staff and supplies. They are overwhelmed,” he warned.
Victims of the conflict include Kamal Fakih, 27, who regained consciousness in Sidon hospital after an Israeli airstrike left his body burned and lacerated. When he tried to contact the paramedic who rescued him from the rubble, he discovered that Muhammad Tafili had already died, the victim of an Israeli airstrike on ambulances in the village of Kfar Tebnit on March 28.
The pressure on hospitals that remain open is enormous. Medical referrals continue to put pressure on a health system already paralyzed by the country’s economic collapse. Mona Teryaki, director of the Sidon Government Hospital – located just north of the Israeli evacuation zone – noted that the demand for care exceeds the installed capacity: “There is so much demand that we do not have enough nurses.”
The civilian population denounces bombings without prior warning. Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, said his apartment in central Beirut was hit on March 18 without any prior evacuation order being issued. He escaped with severe burns, but his 15-year-old son Jad died in the attack. “These are civilian buildings, not military objectives. They attacked us and we still don’t know why,” he declared from the Sidon hospital.
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