According to initial information from the Lebanese authorities, at least 86 people, including health workers, have been injured in the strikes at Jabal Amel Hospital.
The attacks “caused significant damage … to the emergency department and the intensive care unit,” said the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar.
Dr. Speaking from Beirut on Tuesday, Abubakar explained that Jabal Amel is one of the few hospitals currently operating in the south.
Deadly pattern
In just three months, the WHO has verified nearly 190 attacks on health services, which have killed 128 health workers and injured 332 others. The past week alone has seen 11 attacks.
“These attacks kill and maim, they also deprive people of the health services they need,” the WHO representative said.
Health services in the Tire district have suffered the worst effects of hostilities between Hezbollah fighters and Israel in the past few days; two out of three hospitals, Jabal Amel and Hiram – which were attacked last Sunday – are damaged, while the third hospital is “overwhelmed as it deals with the influx of increased numbers of injured patients”, said Dr. Abubakar.
Access to essential services is “critically limited,” he insisted, especially in southern Lebanon, where patients face delays of up to 48 hours to reach the nearest referral facilities.
A matter of life and death
“Six hospitals have not yet resumed maternity services and are currently only providing emergency services,” emphasized Dr. Abubakar. “For pregnant women and newborns, delays in care can mean the difference between life and death.”
The WHO representative also highlighted the challenging health situation in shelters where there were around 130,000 people who have fled the fighting. Displacement is increasing after the latest Israeli evacuation orders. The escalating violence and warnings of Israeli attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs, home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, prompted a meeting of the Security Council on Monday.
The United Nations health agency has been monitoring infectious diseases in shelters and host communities and reports “an increased trend of acute watery diarrhea”.
“We are in the summer season and now the risk of cholera may be increasing,” warned Dr. Abubakar.
As humanitarian needs exceed the response, the WHO representative insisted on the need to maintain funding for essential health services.
“We also need the attacks on health care to stop and we need active protection of health care,” he said, reiterating calls for a sustained ceasefire and lasting peace.
Since the start of the current escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters on March 2, more than nearly 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and nearly 10,400 people have been injured, most of them civilians.
“This has been among the deadliest months for Lebanon since the start of the conflict in October 2023,” insisted Dr. Abubakar.
A US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect on April 17, but has never been fully observed by either side. It was nominally extended twice, most recently on 16 May for a 45-day period.
