According to initial information from the Lebanese authorities, at least 86 people, including healthcare workers, were injured during the strikes against the Jabal Amel hospital.
The attacks “caused significant damage… to the emergency department and intensive care unit,” said the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar.
Speaking from Beirut on Tuesday, Dr Abubakar explained that Jabal Amel is one of the few hospitals currently operating in the south.
Deadly Model
In just three months, WHO verified nearly 190 attacks on health care, which killed 128 health workers and injured 332 others. Last week alone, 11 attacks were recorded.
“These attacks kill and maim, they also deprive people of the health services they need,” said the WHO representative.
Health care in the Tire district has suffered the worst impacts of hostilities between Hezbollah fighters and Israel in recent days; Two of the three hospitals, Jabal Amel and Hiram – which was attacked last Sunday – are damaged, while the third hospital is “overwhelmed as it faces the influx of increasing numbers of injured patients”, Dr Abubakar said.
Access to essential services is “extremely limited”, he insisted, particularly in southern Lebanon, where patients face delays of up to 48 hours in reaching the nearest referral centers.
A question of life and death
“Six hospitals are yet to resume delivery services and are currently only providing emergency room care,” Dr Abubakar highlighted. “For pregnant women and newborns, delays in care can mean the difference between life and death..”
The WHO representative also highlighted the difficult health situation in shelters, housing some 130,000 people who fled the fighting. Travel is increasing following the latest Israeli evacuation orders. The escalation of violence and warnings of Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, where hundreds of thousands of civilians live, prompted a Security Council meeting on Monday.
The U.N. health agency monitors infectious diseases in shelters and host communities, reporting “an increased trend toward acute watery diarrhea.”
“We are in the summer season and the risk of cholera could now increase,” warned Dr Abubakar.
As humanitarian needs outpace the response, the WHO representative stressed the need to maintain funding for essential health services.
“We also need attacks on health care to stop, and we need active protection of health care,” he said, reiterating calls for a lasting ceasefire and lasting peace.
Since the current escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters began on March 2, more than 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and nearly 10,400 people have been injured, most of them civilians.
“These months have been among the deadliest for Lebanon since the start of the conflict in October 2023,” insisted Dr. Abubakar.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel took effect on April 17 but was never fully respected by either side. It has been officially extended twice, most recently on May 16 for a period of 45 days.
