IN BRIEF
- Lebanese authorities have accused the Israeli military of a "blatant violation" of international law.
- The Israeli military said it was "looking into" what happened.
Three back-to-back, targeted Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon have killed four medics and wounded six others, Lebanese officials said, as they accused Israel of deliberately targeting medics.
The successive Israeli attacks on the southern village of Mayfadoun, near the bigger town of Nabatiyeh, hit the first group of medics responding to a distress call from wounded civilians, a second group trying to help their wounded colleagues and a third group rushing to aid the first two teams that had been targeted.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strikes beyond saying it was "looking into" what happened.
It has previously accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group of using ambulances as cover for militant activities, without offering evidence.
The Lebanese Health Ministry condemned the attacks as a "blatant violation" of international law.
Abou Haidar Hayya, an official with the Islamic Health Committee involved in the rescue operation, said he feared such direct targeting of medics meant "there are no more red lines in this war".
"Ambulances are protected under all international laws and conventions. It is forbidden to target them. And when those prohibitions collapse, we have nothing left," he said by phone from the health centre in Nabitiyeh.
Since the Israel-Hezbollah war began on 2 March, at least 91 Lebanese medical workers have been killed by Israel, the ministry said, underscoring the intensity of the ongoing strikes and strain on Lebanon's health system.
The overall death toll from the war in Lebanon jumped to 2,167 on Wednesday.
Back-to-back attacks on medics
Israel first struck a team from Lebanon's Islamic Health Committee, a major healthcare provider that is affiliated with Hezbollah's political movement, killing two paramedics, the group said.
A second team from the committee headed to the site and was struck in another Israeli attack that wounded three medical workers, the ministry reported.
The Nabatiyeh Emergency Services, as well as the Islamic Risala Scout Association, a paramedic group affiliated with the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally, mounted a third rescue attempt.
They were hit by a strike that killed two more medics.
Most of the wounded medics remain in moderate condition except for one, who is in a serious condition after being hit in the chest by shrapnel, the Islamic Health Committee said.
Footage captured by the Nabatiyeh Emergency Services shows the second team of medics wearing their uniforms and riding in clearly marked emergency vehicles struggling to pull their bloodied colleagues out of wrecked ambulances that had veered onto the side of the road.
Rescue workers are seen administering aid to two wounded colleagues on stretchers in the back of an ambulance when an Israeli strike smashes into the vehicle, blowing out its windows and sending glass shattering everywhere.
The camera shakes, and the medic who was treating his colleagues screams in pain.
The video then shows a third team arriving to help the others before being attacked.
Hayya, from the Islamic Health Committee, said he doesn't regret dispatching one team after another into the line of fire.
"We went in three times because we refuse to leave our paramedics behind, even if it costs all of us our lives," he said.
He promised that the Islamic Health Committee and other paramedic groups would continue to carry out their duties in southern Lebanon despite the increasingly impossible conditions.
Israel expands its ground invasion
Across southern Lebanon, Israeli forces said they had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets over the past 24 hours.
Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address late Wednesday that he had ordered the military to expand its so-called "buffer zone" in southern Lebanon toward the east.
The Israeli military has issued evacuation warnings for wide swaths of southern Lebanon but tens of thousands of people have stayed— either because they don't want to leave their homes or because they have nowhere to go.
Increasingly, though, residents say nowhere feels safe.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
