International and humanitarian rights organizations are calling for attacks on health care workers and medical facilities in Lebanon to cease.
Since March 2, at least 40 health care workers have been killed and 107 have been injured, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said last Thursday. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on March 14 that it has verified at least 27 attacks on health care workers in Lebanon since March 2, resulting in 30 deaths and 35 injuries.
After the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia said it launched large-scale rocket and drone attacks on Israel in retaliation. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in turn said it began striking back against the attacks, targeting what it said were Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.
In recent days, the IDF’s operations in Lebanon have expanded to limited ground operations as Hezbollah has vowed to continue fighting.
The IDF has claimed that ambulances and health care sites in Lebanon are being targeted because they’re being used for military activities.
“As part of its terrorist activities, Hezbollah is making extensive military use of ambulances,” IDF spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee posted on X on March 14.
“We warn that the military use of medical facilities and ambulances must be stopped immediately, and we emphasize that if this approach is not halted, Israel will act in accordance with international law against any military activity carried out by the terrorist Hezbollah using those facilities and ambulances,” the post continued.
“Health care workers are risking their lives to save others, and hospitals, other medical facilities and ambulances are specifically protected under international humanitarian law,” Kristine Beckerle, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, said in a statement on Monday.
“Throwing out accusations claiming that health care facilities and ambulances are being used for military purposes without providing any evidence does not justify treating hospitals, medical facilities or medical transport as battlefields or treating doctors and paramedics as targets,” the statement continued. “Under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict must ensure to distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects.”
Last week, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus referred to the killings of 14 health care workers over a 24-hour period in southern Lebanon as “a tragic development” in a post on X.
“These incidents highlight the ongoing assault on Lebanon’s health care system, which is crucial for the populations it serves,” Ghebreyesus said. “WHO condemns this tragic loss of life and emphasizes that health workers must always be protected. According to international humanitarian law, medical personnel and facilities should never be attacked or militarized.”
Kate Forbes, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, released a joint statement last week expressing “outrage” at the deaths of humanitarian workers.
At least one Lebanese Red Cross paramedic died from critical injuries sustained while attempt to treat wounded civilians and others were injured, according to the statement, which did not provide further details.
“We have called for it before, and we call for it again: states and parties to conflict must take immediate concrete steps to protect those who risk everything to save lives. When humanitarian workers are protected, so is our shared humanity,” Forbes and Egger said in the statement. “The lives of our teams, and those they serve, depend on it.”
This is not the first time that international organizations have reported on health care attacks in Lebanon.
The WHO reported in November 2024 that between Oct. 7, 2023 – when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on southern Israel – and Nov. 1, 2024, nearly half of the 137 attacks on health care in Lebanon resulted in the death of a worker or a patient. At the time, the organization said more health care workers and patients had been killed proportionally in Lebanon than in Ukraine and Gaza.
