Amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, fourteen health workers were killed in the country’s south over the past 24 hours, including doctors, nurses and paramedics working at healthcare facilities.
According to the World Health Organization, 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses were killed in a strike late Thursday on the Bourj Qalaouiyeh primary healthcare center in Lebanon. Just hours earlier, two paramedics lost their lives in attacks on a health facility in Al Sowana, also in Lebanon.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of WHO said the killings of 14 health workers mark a tragic development in the escalating Middle East crisis and highlight growing threats to Lebanon’s healthcare system, which is crucial for the populations it serves.
Since March 2, the WHO has verified 27 attacks on healthcare in Lebanon, resulting in 30 deaths and 35 injuries, including the latest incidents.
Tedros said the WHO condemns the loss of life and stressed that health workers must always be protected. Under international humanitarian law, medical personnel and healthcare facilities must never be attacked or militarized, he said.
He warned that the intensifying conflict in Lebanon and across the broader Middle East increases the risk of further such tragedies and called for urgent action to de-escalate the crisis and protect the health of people throughout the region.