Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 37 people on Thursday, the country’s Health Ministry said early Friday.
“The Israeli enemy’s raids in the past 24 hours on towns and villages in southern Lebanon, Nabatieh, Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Mount Lebanon, and the capital Beirut resulted in a total death toll of 37 people and 151 injuries,” the ministry wrote on X, just after midnight Beirut time.
The World Health Organization said Thursday that 28 healthcare workers had been killed over the past day as Israel is increasingly targeting medical facilities. “Many health workers are not reporting to duty and fled the areas where they work due to bombardments,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
One Israeli strike on Thursday targeted a building in central Beirut that was used by the Islamic Health Authority, a medical organization overseen by Hezbollah. A total of nine people were killed in the strike, including seven Health Authority workers. Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israel used white phosphorus, which can burn flesh to the bone and is prohibited from use as a weapon under international law.
Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said that Israeli strikes in Lebanon have hit nine hospitals and 49 healthcare centers. “International laws are clear in protecting these people — I mean, paramedics,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “Who gave Israel the right to be the judge and the executioner at the same time?”
Israel ordered the evacuation of 20 towns and villages on Thursday and told residents to leave the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, signaling the Israeli military will be expanding its assault in those areas. Al Jazeera reported that Israel has bombed one of the roads that is part of an evacuation route for people from south Lebanon three times.
Early Friday, extremely heavy Israeli airstrikes were reported in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Reports said they were bigger than the massive strikes that killed Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah last week.
Ground fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli troops continued in southern Lebanon on Thursday. Another Israeli soldier was killed, bringing the confirmed IDF death toll in the ground fighting to nine. Israeli troops also shot and killed a member of the Lebanese military.
