Israeli Airstrikes Claim Lives of Four Medics, Hit Two Rescue Teams, Reports Lebanese Authorities

In a series of three consecutive strikes, Israeli forces targeted southern Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of four medics and injuries to six others, according to Lebanese officials. The officials have accused Israel of intentionally attacking medical personnel.

The assaults occurred in the southern village of Mayfadoun, located near Nabatiyeh. The first strike hit medics responding to a call from injured civilians. A second group, attempting to assist their wounded colleagues, was also targeted, followed by a third team trying to aid both prior groups.

When approached for a statement, the Israeli military declined to provide details about the incidents, stating only that the matter was under investigation. Previously, Israel has claimed that the Iran-supported Hezbollah militant group exploits ambulances for its operations, although no evidence has been furnished to support this claim.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has strongly condemned the strikes, labeling them a “blatant violation” of international law.

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 “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 centre in Nabitiyeh.

Since the Israel-Hezbollah war began on 2 March, 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.

Back-to-back 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, who is in a serious condition after being hit in the chest by shrapnel, the Islamic Health Committee said.

Footage captured by the Nabatiyeh Emergency Services 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 expands 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.

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.

Increasingly, though, residents say nowhere feels safe.

For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.