Bombing hospitals has apparently become part of Israel’s playbook. Undeterred by widespread criticism for targeting hospitals in Gaza, Israel has now dropped bombs within range of Lebanon's biggest public hospital, killing at least 18 people. Four of the dead are children.
The move came not long after the Israeli military claimed that there was a Hezbollah terrorist target near the hospital that they intended to hit.
An Israeli army spokesman stated: "Hezbollah built a tunnel under a hospital in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Israeli army will begin, within the coming hours, a wave of attacks on targets in the suburb of Beirut."
They maintained that they were not targeting the hospital itself or its operations, insisting that Hezbollah embeds assets in sensitive locations with civilians, such as hospitals.
Just minutes ahead of the strike, the Israeli military warned people to move away from a number of locations nearby but did not warn anyone to leave the Rafik Hariri University Hospital. Witnesses report hearing a loud bang that sent numerous people running for cover in the densely populated and disadvantaged neighborhood.
The director of the hospital, Jihad Saadeh, told reporters: “We cannot say whether we were directly targeted or not, but unfortunately, the Israeli enemy has no red lines, and we cannot forget the complete destruction of the health care sector in Gaza.”
He added that the hospital was clearly marked with Red Cross symbols on its roof and that it was operating at full capacity when the strike took place. He described the hospital's damage as “severe,” with all of its windows and solar panels destroyed and its facades being damaged.
Right now, they are urgently trying to carry out repairs, especially to the pharmacy in order to prevent medications from spoiling.
The strikes were so strong that at least three multi-story buildings collapsed, while several others were damaged. Around 60 people were injured in adjacent buildings.
One woman described seeing children playing in a courtyard being “torn to pieces” when missiles landed there. Rescuers say they are not sure how many people they will find under the rubble, but efforts are currently underway to search for survivors and victims.
Nearly 1,500 killed in Lebanon in less than a month of fighting
According to figures from the Lebanese health ministry, 1,489 people have been killed in Lebanon during what is approaching one month of war between Israel and Hezbollah, while more than a million people have been displaced and tens of thousands of other individuals have made their way across the border to Syria to escape the violence. The overnight strikes in Beirut caused even more residents to flee, compounding the issues these people are encountering in finding safer ground.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk expressed his horror over the attack, emphasizing that all parties involved in the conflict need to take care to avoid damaging healthcare services and harming civilians.
He said that he was “appalled” by the strike and called for a thorough investigation of what happened, adding: “The fundamental principles of international humanitarian law concerning the protection of civilians must be respected.”
Israel claims another Lebanese hospital has a bunker full of gold and cash underground
The Israeli military also claimed that it found a bunker that was filled with “cash and gold” that was the property of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah underneath a different Beirut hospital, although they did not provide any evidence supporting this claim.
The director of the private Sahel General Hospital, Fadi Alameh, denied that there were any tunnels running beneath the hospital and said that the facility was being evacuated in case Israel strikes it.
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