Lebanon hospitals close as Israeli strikes hit health facilities
At least four hospitals in Lebanon announced on Friday that they were halting operations due to Israeli airstrikes. Additionally, a health organization affiliated with Hezbollah reported that 11 paramedics had been killed in the last 24 hours.
These closures followed two weeks of Israeli strikes on hospitals and healthcare workers in Lebanon, resulting in the shutdown of at least 37 medical facilities and the deaths of numerous medical personnel, as reported by the World Health Organization.
Late on Friday night, the Israeli army released a statement claiming that Hezbollah was utilizing medical vehicles to transport fighters and weapons, warning that it would target any vehicle it suspected of being used for military purposes.
Hospital staff in southern Lebanon informed the BBC that health facilities treating injured civilians had suffered direct Israeli attacks. The BBC has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.
Dr Mounes Kalakish, director of the Marjayoun governmental hospital in southern Lebanon, told the BBC that the hospital had no choice but to close on Friday after an airstrike hit two ambulances at the hospital’s entrance way on Friday, killing seven paramedics.
“The nurses and doctors were terrified,” he said. “We tried to calm them and carry on working, but it was not possible.”
The emergency director of the hospital, Dr Shoshana Mazraani, said she was sitting at the front of the building when the strike happened. She said that she heard the cries of the paramedics who were hit and ran towards the damaged ambulances, but was warned to stay back by colleagues fearful of a follow up strike.
The Marjayoun hospital had already been hanging on by a thread, Dr Mazraani said, with a core team of just 20 doctors remaining from the centre’s usual 120 staff. The closure on Friday was a “tragedy for the region”, she said.
“We serve a huge population here, many villages. We had 45 inpatient beds, all now empty. We were the only hospital providing dialysis in the region, for example. We have had to turn away emergency patients and tell others to leave.”
Rita Suleiman, the nursing director at the Saint Therese hospital, on the edge of Beirut’s southern suburbs, told the BBC that the hospital had also struggled on after being badly damaged by a strike on Friday but was later forced to suspend all services.
Other hospitals were carrying on with severely limited services. Dr Mohammed Hamadeh, director of the Tebnine hospital, told the BBC on Friday a nearby strike had rocked the building.
“The blast was very close,” he said. “We are still trying to operate but we cannot leave the confines of the hospital because it is too dangerous.”
“We serve a huge population here, many villages. We had 45 inpatient beds, all now empty. We were the only hospital providing dialysis in the region, for example. We have had to turn away emergency patients and tell others to leave.”
Rita Suleiman, the nursing director at the Saint Therese hospital, on the edge of Beirut’s southern suburbs, told the BBC that the hospital had also struggled on after being badly damaged by a strike on Friday but was later forced to suspend all services.
Other hospitals were carrying on with severely limited services. Dr Mohammed Hamadeh, director of the Tebnine hospital, told the BBC on Friday a nearby strike had rocked the building.
“The blast was very close,” he said. “We are still trying to operate but we cannot leave the confines of the hospital because it is too dangerous.”
