A Grim Reality: Targeting of Medical Personnel and Facilities in South Lebanon

Healthcare workers and officials in south Lebanon are raising grave concerns, alleging that Israeli bombings have deliberately targeted medical personnel and facilities. This alleged systematic effort, which includes the use of devastating “double-tap” strikes, is described as a concerted attempt to render the region uninhabitable.

Since the commencement of hostilities on March 2, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reports a staggering toll: at least 128 medical facilities and ambulances across south Lebanon have been struck, resulting in the deaths of 40 healthcare workers and injuries to 107. The conflict ignited when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel, prompting a retaliatory military campaign.

The majority of these strikes on medical personnel reportedly occurred while they were attending to their duties in ambulances or at first aid centres, many of which have been subsequently destroyed in southern Lebanon. Furthermore, Israel is accused of conducting at least five double-tap strikes. This tactic involves an initial strike, followed by a pause, which allegedly allows medical responders to arrive at the scene before a second, more devastating strike hits the area.

Under international humanitarian law, medical workers and hospitals are afforded protected status. The deliberate targeting of such entities could constitute a war crime. Amnesty International has unequivocally stated that, irrespective of political affiliations, medical workers are classified as civilians, and targeting them is unlawful.

An investigation involving interviews with nine medical workers, including eyewitnesses to Israeli strikes on three distinct medical facilities, alongside visits to three destroyed medical centres in the Nabatieh and Tyre governorates and inspections of two damaged ambulances, found no evidence of military use at any of the sites.

In response to these allegations, the Israeli military has previously accused Hezbollah of using ambulances for military purposes, stating it would “act in accordance with international law” if such practices continued. The Israeli army made a similar accusation in 2024 but has yet to provide any substantiating evidence. The Lebanese Ministry of Health has vehemently condemned these accusations, terming them an attempt to legitimise war crimes. The Israeli military did not respond to requests for comment regarding specific strikes on medical centres or the allegations of deliberately targeting medical workers and employing double-tap tactics.

A significant portion of these alleged attacks have been directed at the Islamic Health Association (IHA), a health service affiliated with Hezbollah that collaborates with the Lebanese Ministry of Health. However, Israeli strikes have also impacted the state civil defence service, the health service of the Amal movement’s Islamic Scouts Association, a local healthcare charity, and the Lebanese Red Cross.

According to healthcare professionals in the region, these attacks are meticulously designed to make life “uninhabitable” in south Lebanon, viewing them as an integral part of broader Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure. During the last conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, nearly 230 medical workers were reportedly killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon.

“The Israeli enemy is trying as much as possible to prevent life in our region and push people to flee. Our role is to help people, to stand by them and to provide services so they can remain on their land,” stated Abdullah Nour el-Din, the head of IHA emergency response south of the Litani River, standing amidst a dozen destroyed ambulances.

He recounted the distressing situation of many displaced individuals who, unable to find accommodation in northern cities, had returned to their homes, despite Israeli army evacuation orders. Tragically, shortly after their return, their homes were bombed. When first responders arrived to rescue the injured, they too became targets.

Nour el-Din elaborated on the chilling pattern: “We have seen what look like double-tap strikes – striking, waiting for paramedics, then striking again. In Seddiqin, they were putting out a blaze and were hit again. In Nabatieh, they were rescuing civilians when they were attacked.”

Healthcare workers also noted a disturbing pattern of Israeli strikes coinciding with the breaking of the Ramadan fast at sundown, a time when first responders would typically gather.

On March 8, an Israeli airstrike obliterated an IHA emergency response centre in the southern town of Zifta, killing two employees and incapacitating another. Hussein Moshawrab, the centre’s new head, recalled a FaceTime call with his staff shortly before the strike, discussing their evening meal.

“I did a video call with them at iftar, because we can’t all gather due to the danger of being struck. The next time I saw them was when they were under the rubble,” Moshawrab recounted, describing his frantic arrival at the scene. The once two-storey centre is now a complete ruin, with the section of the roof where employees were dining now lying on the ground. The building also housed a municipal police station.

Paramedics have revealed that the perceived threat of Israeli strikes has forced them to adopt stringent precautionary measures to minimise casualties. The size of medical teams has been reduced from three to two individuals. First responders are prohibited from visiting family or friends during working hours and must maintain physical distance from others. They now sleep in ambulances parked considerable distances apart, a measure designed to prevent a single strike from eliminating an entire team.

“We try not to behave unusually, not do anything out of the ordinary, and remain as conspicuous as possible to the drone above, so that it’s clear that you’re a medic and there’s no excuse to hit us,” explained Ali Nasr al-Din, his eyes visibly strained from lack of sleep. He had spent the previous night pulling colleagues from rubble following a strike on the civil defence centre he manages.

“You can take as many precautions as you want, but if in the end, the other party doesn’t care about ethics, it won’t matter,” he lamented. “Your mind starts to wonder: what if they categorised us as a target, what if they hit us? But you can’t think about that.”

The relentless attacks on medical sectors come as hospitals in south Lebanon are overwhelmed by a continuous influx of wounded. In just 17 days of fighting, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reports over 1,000 fatalities and 2,584 injuries resulting from Israeli strikes.

At the Nabih Berri governmental hospital in Nabatieh, a man’s agonised screams echoed as he was wheeled into the operating room on a Wednesday. The acrid smell of burning flesh permeated the air. He had been standing near a petrol station when it was struck by Israel, leaving most of his body severely burned.

Outside the operating room, Ali Tfyali, a 26-year-old cinema graduate, trembled with each distant thud of an airstrike. His brother and sister had been killed by a strike on their home just 90 minutes earlier, while he was at a neighbour’s house tending to their livestock.

“It’s tougher this time. The bombing seems more vicious. We are getting less wounded people coming in, and more already dead,” stated Dr Hassan Wazni, the head of the Nabatieh governmental hospital. The previous day, two of his staff members sustained injuries when an airstrike impacted the hospital’s perimeter, showering them with debris and glass.

The pressure on first responders is immense and deeply personal. One paramedic, Nidal Jafal, was recording a video as he rushed towards an airstrike. Upon reaching the collapsed building, he began to scream, his voice choked with anguish, “My mother and father are gone!” realising it was his parents’ home that had been hit.

“If you asked me before the war, will I return to work as a paramedic again, I would have said, ‘Hell, no’. We all would have,” admitted Ali Nasr al-Din. “But then the war started again and all of a sudden we found ourselves helping. What else can we do? This is our home.”