Residents check the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the neighborhood of Mreijeh in Beirut's southern suburbs on October 4, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Beirut, October 5 (RHC)-- The Lebanese Health Ministry has called on the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations to put an end to the Israeli regime’s "massacre" of Lebanon's healthcare system, amid the indiscriminate Israeli strikes on the Arab country. The ministry appealed in a statement issued on Saturday, a day after operations at Marjayoun Government Hospital, as well as Mays al-Jabal Governmental Hospital, and Salah Ghandour Hospital were halted following Israeli attacks.
“The ongoing crime against the medical sector and emergency teams has reached a level of audacity in violating UN charters and human rights, particularly regarding the right to medical care and hospitalization for all individuals,” the ministry said. It further urged the WHO and the UN to intervene and facilitate the evacuation of patients and medical staff from the Salah Ghandour Hospital in the town of Bint Jbeil, emphasizing the need to protect healthcare workers and facilities.
The latest development came a day after nine medical staff sustained injuries from Israeli shelling at the hospital, with Lebanon's al-Mayadeen news channel reporting that the occupying forces refused to guarantee the safety of ambulances attempting to transport the wounded to hospital.
Four health workers were also killed in an Israeli drone strike that hit near Marjayoun Government Hospital on Friday. Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said on Thursday that more than 40 paramedics and firefighters had been killed by Israeli fire in three days.
The Israeli strikes came as part of the regime’s escalation against the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah. Hundreds of people have been killed across the country since late September.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that a female volunteer with the Red Cross from a town in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek has succumbed to injuries she sustained as a result of an Israeli airstrike.
The NNA went on to say that an Israeli strike targeted a house in the town of Zawtar on Saturday, with initial information indicating three people were killed. The agency further noted that two people were killed after a bomb hit the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon and a raid in Majdal Selm resulted in at least one person being killed and another wounded.
Israel has been targeting Lebanon since October 2023, when it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah has been responding to the aggression with numerous retaliatory operations, targeting the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Lebanese resistance movement has vowed to keep up its operations against Israel as long as the Israeli regime continues its Gaza war, which has so far killed more than 41,788 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
