Last night, five Lebanese civil defense medics were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting their centre in a town in southern Lebanon as they were preparing to respond to emergency calls.
The civil defense issued a statement stating, “Five employees at the Sour Regional Center died following an Israeli airstrike on the civil defense centre in the town of Dardghaya.”
They were reportedly inside the centre, ready to handle incoming distress calls.
The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health has indicated that this is a preliminary toll, noting that efforts are ongoing to clear the debris from the building, which collapsed due to the bombing.
The Health Ministry condemned the recurring targeting of rescue and ambulance teams, following the deaths of dozens of its members over the past year.
It has called for “a firm international stance to prevent the enemy from continuing to target rescue teams,” accusing them of disregarding international laws, norms, and humanitarian charters.
Over the past year, more than 100 medics have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, with the vast majority occurring in the last two weeks during Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, including a ground incursion in the south.
The ongoing hostilities have claimed over 2,100 lives in Lebanon within a year, including approximately 1,500 in the last two weeks alone.
In a recent escalation in southern Lebanon, two peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) sustained minor injuries following an Israeli artillery strike on one of their positions.
According to a UN source, Israeli forces targeted three UNIFIL sites, causing damage including a direct hit on the observation tower at UNIFIL’s main base in Ras al-Naqoura.
The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, expressed “deep concern” over the Israeli military’s recent activities near the UNIFIL post in Lebanon.
Dujarric emphasized that “it is unacceptable to compromise the safety of UN peacekeepers who are carrying out a Security Council mandate.”
