Despite some media reports claiming a ceasefire could happen in a matter of hours, Israeli airstrikes continue apace across Lebanon. As has been the case throughout their war, the targeting is in no way confined to Hezbollah militants.
Today, during the course of their multiple airstrikes against the city of Baalbek and surrounding areas, Israel hit a gathering point for civil defense workers, killing four paramedics. Two more were killed in other attacks around the city.
Deliberate attacks on paramedics and medical centers have been a constant in the air war, and a lot have also been slain in secondary attacks trying to rescue survivors from previous Israeli strikes. In the past year, 178 Lebanese paramedics have been killed, and 279 wounded. 246 rescue vehicles, mainly ambulances, have been struck in those attacks.
The attacks on ambulances continued today as well, with one of the strikes on the coastal city of Tyre hitting and destroying an ambulance. The crew inside, surprisingly, survived that attack.
The Lebanese Health Ministry has documented hundreds of Israeli attacks on health care workers, and their attacks have forced at least eight hospitals to close, with at least seven others operating at partial functionality amid the chaos of the offensive.
The most high profile Israeli attack on a hospital was against Sahel General Hospital, in southern Beirut. Israel claimed the hospital contained a bunker full of money and gold belonging to Hezbollah, but the hospital gave international journalists access to the area, including the building that was supposedly the “secret entrance,” and they found no evidence of any of Israel’s claims. Israeli attacks on southern Beirut continued, of course.
