BEIRUT: Four hospitals in Lebanon, including one on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, announced on Friday the suspension of work, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the international community to pressure Israel “to allow rescue and relief teams to reach bombed sites and allow them to move” casualties, after more than 40 emergency personnel were killed in recent days.

Sainte Therese Hospital, on the edge of Beirut’s southern suburbs, reported “huge damage” and said “Israeli warplanes targeting... the vicinity” of the facility on Thursday “led to the halt of hospital services”, in a statement carried by the official National News Agency (NNA).

South Lebanon’s Mais Al Jabal hospital, on the border with Israel, announced “the halt to work of all departments”, citing factors including “enemy targeting of the hospital” since last October and problems for supply lines and staff access.

The comment also came in a statement on the NNA.

The director of south Lebanon’s Marjayoun governmental hospital, Mouenes Kalakesh, said “an Israeli air strike targeted ambulances at the main entrance to the hospital”, killing paramedics who were bringing wounded to the facility.

“We had been providing medical services since the beginning of the war, but staff shortages and today’s bombardment have forced the closure of the hospital,” located less than 10 kilometres from the border, he said.

The air strike killed four paramedics from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee, the NNA said.

Israeli bombing has killed more than 1,110 people and displaced up to one million, according to officials.

Many have fled the Marjayoun area following the recent escalation, with some towns and villages in the area sustaining damage for the first time.

The Marjayoun hospital had been operating “for four days without an anaesthesiologist and laboratory specialists, because many people have fled”, an official said.

On Thursday, Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad said 97 rescuers had been killed since Hezbollah and Israel began fighting last October.

Among that number are more than 40 paramedics and firefighters killed by Israeli fire in just three days, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2024