Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks on Lebanon’s healthcare system since last year, the country’s health minister revealed, as he called on the international community to stop ignoring Israel’s war crimes.
During a press conference Friday, Firas Abyad detailed what he called Israel’s "direct and intentional" attacks on facilities, workers and vehicles.
Abyad said there has been at least 200 attacks on first-aid agencies. There have been 55 attacks on hospitals – 36 of them direct attacks – resulting in eight hospitals being forced to close.
Seven other hospitals are only partially operating.
Five hospitals have ceased operations in southern Lebanon, two in Beirut’s southern suburbs, and one in the Beqaa.
Sahel General Hospital in Haret Hreik, south of the capital, was forced to evacuate its staff and patients earlier this week after the Israeli military claimed without evidence there was a Hezbollah bunker beneath it.
Bahman Hospital, also in Haret Hreik, was several damaged in strikes on the area.
The total number of rescuers and "health sector workers killed has so far reached 163, with 272 others wounded," Abyad told reporters.
Attacks have also targeted emergency responders.
Abyad said authorities have been unable to retrieve the bodies of eight rescuers killed in attacks on their three ambulances near border villages, where fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces has raged.
"The Israeli enemy has been refusing to even allow us to retrieve the bodies for the past two weeks," the minister said, adding that six firefighters were still buried under the rubble in another south Lebanon location in the border village of Adayseh.
Israel has targeted 158 ambulances, 57 fire trucks, and 15 rescue vehicles, he added.
Abyad stressed that "protecting health care is a collective duty," calling on the international community to implement international humanitarian law and hold Israeli officials accountable for violations against the Lebanese health sector, and not just condemning its violations.
"Justice cannot be selective, and impunity leads to more future violations."
Abyad said his ministry has documented the attacks through a report on its website that it shared with the international sides.
"The document constitutes an essential tool for collecting, verifying, and preserving attacks and is a necessary step toward seeking accountability," he said.