Back-to-back Israeli strikes kill 4 Lebanese medics as Israel-Hezbollah war grinds on
TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — The Israeli military on Wednesday killed four Lebanese rescue workers and wounded six others in three consecutive, targeted strikes, paramedic groups said, a stark illustration of the human cost of the Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon a day after it the two countries held historic talks in Washington.
The back-to-back Israeli attacks on the southern village of Mayfadoun, near the bigger town of Nabatiyeh, hit the first group of medics responding to a distress call from wounded civilians, a second group trying to assist their wounded colleagues and a third group rushing to aid the first two teams that had been targeted.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strikes beyond saying it was “looking into” what happened. It has previously accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group of using ambulances as cover for militant activities, without offering evidence.
The Lebanese Health Ministry condemned the attacks as a “blatant violation” of international law.
Abou Haidar Hayya, an official with the Islamic Health Committee involved in the rescue operation, said he feared such direct targeting of medics meant that “there are no more red lines in this war.”
“Ambulances are protected under all international laws and conventions. It is forbidden to target them. And when those prohibitions collapse, we have nothing left,” he said by phone from the health center in Nabitiyeh.
Since the Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, at least 91 Lebanese medical workers have been killed by Israel, the ministry said, underscoring the intensity of the ongoing strikes and strain on Lebanon’s health system. The overall death toll from the war in Lebanon jumped to 2,167 on Wednesday.
A succession of Israeli attacks on medics
Israel first struck a team from Lebanon’s Islamic Health Committee, a major healthcare provider that is affiliated with Hezbollah’s political movement, killing two paramedics, the group said. A second team from the committee headed to the site and was struck in another Israeli attack that wounded three medical workers, the ministry reported.
The Nabatiyeh Emergency Services as well as the Islamic Risala Scout Association, a paramedic group affiliated with the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally, mounted a third rescue attempt. They were hit by a strike that killed two more medics.
Most of the wounded medics remain in moderate condition except for one medic in serious condition after being hit in the chest by shrapnel, the Islamic Health Committee said.
Footage captured by the Nabatiyeh Emergency Services and shared with The Associated Press shows the second team of medics wearing their uniforms and riding in clearly marked emergency vehicles struggling to pull their bloodied colleagues out of wrecked ambulances that had veered onto the side of the road.
Rescue workers are seen administering aid to two wounded colleagues on stretchers in the back of an ambulance when an Israeli strike smashes into the vehicle, blowing out its windows and sending glass shattering everywhere. The camera shakes, and the medic who was treating his colleagues screams in pain. The video then shows a third team arriving to help the others before being attacked.
Hayya, from the Islamic Health Committee, said he doesn’t regret dispatching one team after another into the line of fire.
“We went in three times because we refuse to leave our paramedics behind, even if it costs all of us our lives,” he said.
He promised that the Islamic Health Committee and other paramedic groups would continue to carry out their duties in southern Lebanon despite the increasingly impossible conditions.
Israel presses its ground invasion
Across southern Lebanon, Israeli forces said they had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets over the past 24 hours. Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address late Wednesday that he had ordered the military to expand its so-called “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon toward the east. He said that Israel is pursuing negotiations with the Lebanese government alongside its military campaign against Hezbollah in hopes of disarming the militant group and achieving a “sustainable peace” with its northern neighbor.
In Lebanon, those negotiations have drawn backlash from Hezbollah and its supporters. Al Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper that is closely allied with Hezbollah, declared the government to be a “regime of shame” in its front-page report about Tuesday’s talks in Washington.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah castigated Lebanese authorities for what he called the “disgraceful image” of direct negotiations with Israel “at a time when it is killing Lebanese people and committing massacres.”
He urged the government, which has long sought the disarmament of Hezbollah to no avail, to hold a popular referendum on the future of Hezbollah’s arsenal rather than decide its fate in talks with Israel.
“We are ready for a referendum on these choices,” Fadlallah told reporters, saying he expected the results of any such vote to show that a majority of Lebanese people support Hezbollah’s militant activities.
On the streets of Beirut, Lebanese were divided. Some agreed with Hezbollah that Israel can only be stopped through military force. Others welcomed the talks in Washington as a possible step toward ending the war.
“The negotiations are more in our interest than in Israel’s interest because we are the ones whose country is being destroyed, we are the ones suffering losses,” said Mohamed Saad, a Beirut resident.
A refuge of last resort
The Israeli military has issued evacuation warnings for wide swaths of southern Lebanon. But tens of thousands of people have stayed — either because they don’t want to leave their homes or because they have nowhere to go.
Many displaced families see the coastal city of Tyre as the last remaining refuge in southern Lebanon, removed from the heaviest clashes closer to the border.
Increasingly, though, residents say nowhere feels safe. Across the normally bustling beach town, the war is visible in shattered buildings, mounds of rubble and debris-strewn streets.
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DeBre reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Fadi Tawil contributed to this report