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According to preliminary information from Lebanese authorities, at least 86 people, including health workers, were injured in the attack on Jabal Amel Hospital.
The attacks “caused significant damage…to emergency departments and intensive care units”, said the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Lebanon, Dr Abdinasir Abubakar.
Speaking from Beirut on Tuesday, Dr Abubakar explained that Jabal Amel is one of the few hospitals currently operating in the southern region.
Deadly pattern
In just three months, WHO has verified nearly 190 attacks on health services, which have killed 128 health workers and injured 332 others. In the last week alone there have been 11 attacks.
“These attacks kill and maim, and deprive people of the health services they need,” said a WHO representative.
Health services in the Tire district have been worst affected by hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli fighters in recent days; two of the three hospitals, Jabal Amel and Hiram – which were attacked last Sunday – were damaged, while the third hospital was “overwhelmed by having to deal with the increasing number of injured patients”, said Dr Abubakar.
Access to essential services is “very limited,” he stressed, especially in southern Lebanon, where patients face delays of up to 48 hours in reaching the nearest referral facility.
A matter of life and death
“Six hospitals have not resumed delivery services and are currently only providing care in emergency rooms,” stressed Dr Abubakar. “For pregnant women and newborns, delays in care can be the difference between life and death.”
WHO representatives also highlighted the difficult health situation in shelters, which house around 130,000 people who have fled fighting. Refugees continue to increase following Israel’s latest evacuation order. The escalation of violence and warnings of an Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, home to hundreds of thousands of civilians, prompted the conflict. Security Council meeting on Monday.
The UN health agency has been monitoring infectious diseases in shelters and host communities, reporting “an increasing trend in acute diarrhea”.
“We are in summer and now the risk of cholera may increase,” Dr Abubakar warned.
As humanitarian needs outweigh the response, WHO representatives stressed the need to maintain funding for essential health services.
“We also need to stop attacks on health services, and we need active protection of health services,” he said, repeating calls for a sustainable ceasefire and durable peace.
Since the start of the escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters on March 2, more than nearly 3,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and nearly 10,400 people injured, the vast majority of them civilians.
“These are the deadliest months for Lebanon since the start of the conflict in October 2023,” stressed Dr Abubakar.
A US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel took effect on April 17 but was never fully adhered to by either side. This agreement was nominally extended twice, most recently on May 16 for a period of 45 days.
