Hospitals in Lebanon fear being targeted by Israel
The death toll from Israeli airstrikes late Monday that destroyed several buildings facing one of Beirut’s main hospitals climbed to 13. Lebanon's Health Ministry said that 57 others were wounded, including seven who were in critical condition.
The Israeli military said that it struck a Hezbollah target, without elaborating, and said that it hadn't targeted the hospital itself.
Associated Press reporters visited the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the country’s largest public hospital, on Tuesday. They saw broken windows in the hospital’s pharmacy and dialysis center, which was full of patients at the time.
The force of the explosions also destroyed some of the hospital’s solar panels. Staff said that in the midst of their own panic, they had to deal with wounded patients streaming into the hospital in the aftermath of the strikes across the street.
Staff at another Beirut hospital feared it would be targeted after Israel alleged that Hezbollah had stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in its basement, without providing evidence.
The director of the Sahel General Hospital denied the allegations and invited journalists to visit the hospital and its two underground floors on Tuesday. AP reporters saw no sign of militants or anything out of the ordinary.
The few remaining patients had been evacuated after the Israeli military's announcement the night before. The rest had left earlier because of repeated airstrikes in the surrounding neighborhood.
“We have been living in terror for the last 24 hours,” hospital director Mazen Alameh said. “There is nothing under the hospital.”
Many in Lebanon fear Israel could target its hospitals in the same way it has raided medical facilities across Gaza. The Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militants of using hospitals for military purposes, allegations denied by medical staff.
According to international humanitarian law, health establishments and units, including hospitals, should not be attacked. This protection extends to the wounded and sick as well as to medical staff and means of transport.
More than 100 health workers have been killed in the year since the war in Gaza began and since Israel and Hezbollah stepped up exchanges of fire along the border. More than nine hospitals and 45 health care centers have been damaged.
Source: Associated Press
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