Israeli attacks on medics in southern Lebanon part of ‘alarming pattern,’ says MSF

International organization Doctors Without Borders says a Tuesday drone strike that killed two paramedics and injured another in southern Lebanon is part of an “alarming pattern” of Israeli attacks targeting rescue teams.

On Tuesday, the paramedics, who are part of the Lebanese Civil Defence rescue team, left Al Najdeh Al-Shaabiyeh Hospital in the southern Lebanon city of Nabatieh to respond to a nearby strike. A drone strike hit the first responders as they were helping a person injured in the earlier strike, killing two of them immediately, according to the nongovernmental organization (NGO), also known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

“We are outraged over the killing of paramedics who were simply doing their job, taking huge risks to save lives,” said MSF Head of Mission in Lebanon Jeremy Ristord.

“Attacks on health care are unacceptable and must not be normalized.”

Another rescue team witnessed the strike on their colleagues and returned to the site to collect human remains, the NGO said.

A large crowd of mourners flooded the streets of Sidon on Wednesday to mourn the loss of the two paramedics — Hussein Jaber and Ahmad Noura.

In a statement to CBC News on Thursday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck a “terrorist” in the area of Mayfadoun in southern Lebanon, roughly five kilometres from Nabatieh. It said it was aware of reports that “uninvolved individuals” were injured in the area.

“The objectives of the strike were not achieved in the initial strike, and therefore, the terrorist was struck again in order to remove the threat,” it said without providing further evidence.

“It should be emphasized that the strike was directed solely at a terrorist, and not toward rescue personnel.”

Rescues delayed due to risk

MSF said its teams have witnessed the deadly aftermath of airstrikes, drone strikes and artillery fire, that have damaged hospitals, ambulances and medical equipment.

The attacks have also injured civilians, health workers and first responders.

Since the reignited war between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2, at least 110 health-care workers have been killed and 252 injured in Israeli attacks, including Tuesday’s attack, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

CBC News has previously reported on Lebanese ambulance workers who say that filming the attacks on their teams has been critical in serving as evidence against Israeli claims that they are misusing their status to help Hezbollah.

Dr. Mina Naguib, a British emergency physician with MSF, said paramedics in southern Lebanon face increasing risk responding to calls, often having to co-ordinate access with Israel in areas controlled or targeted by Israeli forces.

“We know quite clearly that Israel targets and kills paramedics,” Dr. Naguib told CBC News from southern Lebanon in an earlier interview on Friday.

“Without [permission from Israel], they quite rightly do not go because not only is it danger to them, but it’s also, if you become the victim, you actually also put more stress on the system.”

The IDF has previously told CBC it “doesn’t target medical staff, it only targets military targets, in accordance with international law.”

MSF said rescue and medical teams in Nabatieh and across southern Lebanon are increasingly forced to delay or limit life‑saving interventions out of fear of being targeted.

“Ambulance crews supported by MSF report spending only minutes at blast sites due to the risk of repeated strikes, avoiding the use of excavation equipment, and delaying evacuations, leaving some people trapped under rubble for hours or days,” it said in a news release Thursday.

Its doctors have treated patients whose conditions were critically worsened by these delays, including severe trauma cases who later died from their injuries, MSF said.

Over 160 attacks on medical facilities, workers

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it recorded 161 attacks against health-care facilities and workers between March 2 and May 12.

“This included 15 attacks resulting in 12 deaths and 21 injuries that occurred after the start of the ceasefire,” MSF said.

The ceasefire, it said, “has not led to a cessation of hostilities and has not allowed displaced populations to return home or people stranded in heavily targeted areas to seek safety.”

Meanwhile, Lebanese health authorities said 22 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including eight children.

The latest attacks came ahead of a third round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington, as the Trump administration pushes for a breakthrough between the two neighbors that have been in a state of war since Israel was created in 1948. Hezbollah has rejected those talks and is not part of them.

A ceasefire, which was declared on April 16, is due to expire on Sunday.

Hostilities have largely been contained to southern Lebanon since then but regular Israeli strikes have continued despite the deal.

The Israeli military said an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah on Thursday fell within Israeli territory near the border and injured several Israeli civilians.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the war has killed 2,896 people in Lebanon since March 2, including 589 women, children and medics. Its toll does not say how many combatants have been killed.

Some 1.2 million people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon, many of them fleeing from the south.

Israel says 17 of its soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.