Ten additional Lebanese health care workers have been killed in Israeli attacks on ambulances and hospitals this weekend, bringing the overall toll of paramedics killed in the war this month to at least 51 as the invasion of Lebanon continues to expand.
Nine of the health care workers were killed in various attacks on Saturday, with Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine reporting nine paramedics killed and seven wounded in the course of five distinct Israeli attacks.
Sunday saw one more paramedic killed and another wounded in attacks, and the IDF had also reportedly attacked Bint Jbeil Hospital in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, claiming they were targeting a “drug depot.”
Ambulance destroyed in Israeli airstrike in Bint Jbeil | image from X
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his intention to expand the “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon even further northward, with an eye toward ensuring Hezbollah would not be able to invade. Defense Minister Israel Katz had already expanded the buffer zone all the way to the Litani River, spanning a border region that before the war was home to several hundred thousand people.
It is unclear from Netanyahu’s statement if the announcement today of an expansion intends to go beyond the Litani River, or simply to reiterate the already established occupation. One thing that he makes clear, however, Israel is the aggressor here.
“Instead of them surprising us, we surprise them. We are the active side, we are the attacking side, we are the initiating side – and we are deep in their territory.” Netanyahu declared, adding that he had changed “the face of the Middle East” through aggressive military operations on three distinct fronts.
Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting, and called on Israelis to remain patient with the ongoing wars. He also promised northern Israelis who are on the frontier of this Lebanese War would be assisted “very generously.”
Israel has ordered the population out of southern Lebanon, and has also destroyed all bridges across the Litani River, with officials saying they will not allow the displaced to return home. Between that and attacks elsewhere in the country, over a million Lebanese have been displaced, and at least 1,189 people have been killed, 3,427 others wounded.
