At least 50 paramedics have been killed since the start of Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon two weeks ago, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
In a press briefing, the World Health Organization said that it had planned to deliver large shipments of trauma and medical supplies into Lebanon for those affected by the escalating bombardment, which has killed more than 1,000 people, injured 6,000 and displaced over 1 million. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the aid delivery “has not been possible” due to the closure of Beirut’s airport.
“WHO calls on all partners to facilitate flights to deliver much-needed life-saving supplies to Lebanon,” Ghebreyesus said at the Thursday briefing. “WHO calls for a de-escalation of the conflict, for health care to be protected and not attacked, for access routes to be secured and supplies delivered, and for a cease-fire, a political solution and peace.”
Ghebreyesus said that in the last two days alone, 28 medics were killed in the ongoing bombing. Seventy-three medical workers in Lebanon were killed over the last year in Israeli attacks against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO’s representative in Lebanon, said that all health care workers who have been killed in the most recent escalation have “been on duty, helping with the wounded,” according to Reuters.
The health care worker casualties in Lebanon come amid Israel’s war in Gaza. Since the start of the war last October, Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip killed more than 1,000 Palestinians working in the enclave’s health sector, among them at least 165 doctors, 260 nurses and 76 pharmacists.
In September, a U.N. expert condemned the death of a physician from Gaza who was detained by Israeli forces, calling for the protection of health care workers in occupied Palestine. The expert, Tlaleng Mofokeng, condemned the uptick in attacks in Gaza and the West Bank since October of last year, demanding that Israel “stop destroying and hindering the already limited functioning” of Palestine’s health system.
“A people’s inability to fully exercise their right to self-determination impacts the enjoyment of all their fundamental rights, including the right to health,” Mofokeng said.
Contact Yezen Saadah at [email protected].
