Amid relentless Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, paramedics, medical centres and ambulances have once again come under fire from Zionist fighter jets, echoing the pattern of Israeli aggression during the 2024 war on Lebanon.
Mahmoud Karaki, media spokesman for the Civil Defence Committee in Lebanon, reported that during the first two weeks of the current spell of the war, Israel has struck five ambulance centres, killed 26 paramedics, and injured around 50 others.
‘The current offensive mirrors past conflicts in its targeting of rescue teams and centres,’ Karaki said. ‘During the last war, civil defence and the Islamic Health Authority lost 153 personnel and 46 centres.’
Despite the heavy toll, Karaki emphasised that humanitarian organisations remain steadfast in the field. ‘The Lebanese Red Cross, Al-Risala Health Association, and others coordinate closely, pooling resources to maximise rescue operations,’ he said.
The scale of the attacks was starkly illustrated last Friday, when Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported that five paramedics were killed in a strike on the town of al-Suwwaneh, while 12 doctors, nurses, and paramedics lost their lives in a separate attack on a primary healthcare centre in Burj Qalaway, both located in South Lebanon.
To date, 23 vehicles and 11 medical and emergency centres have been damaged, with a total of 23 Israeli attacks recorded against emergency services.
The Israeli occupation spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a warning earlier this week, claiming that Hezbollah is ‘extensively using ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes’.
Karaki firmly denied the accusation as baseless, substantiated by evidence.
‘This fabricated Israeli narrative mirrors long-standing Israeli propaganda used in Gaza and Lebanon to manufacture justification for attacks on medical staff and vehicles, as well as medical infrastructure,’ he said.
‘Israel creates and uses these lies and accusations as an attempt to justify and legitimise attacks on the health sector. Our work is purely humanitarian.’
Karaki noted that all operations are conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health and the International Red Cross, with ongoing coordination to ensure transparency.
According to Karaki, paramedics on the ground describe the status quo as working under conditions that test both ‘endurance and courage’.
‘The mission of health workers begins the moment an air raid strikes: rushing into unstable, dangerous zones to rescue the wounded and evacuate the injured. Often, they arrive while the threat is still present – whether from renewed strikes on the same site or from massive destruction that blocks access to victims,’ Karaki stated.
Despite the significant risks, health workers remain steadfast in their work.
‘Every minute can mean saving a life,’ Karaki said, underscoring the urgency that drives them forward.
The strain of carrying out this duty is not only physical but also personal.
‘Long hours blur into days, and during the holy month of Ramadan, many continue fasting while performing exhausting tasks. Breaking the fast often happens in the field, with nothing more than water or a few dates.’
According to Karaki, the nature of the job demands constant readiness.
‘Many paramedics spend days on end in field stations, with little chance to see their families. The sacrifices are heavy, but they are borne with a sense of mission.
‘This is a humanitarian calling, and that makes the hardship worth enduring.’
The civil defence media spokesman said the message from paramedics is clear: protecting medical and rescue teams is not optional – it is a humanitarian and legal obligation.
‘Attacks on health workers and facilities violate international law. We all call for urgent international action to safeguard those who represent the first line of defence for civilian lives.’
It is worth noting the same narrative and aggression towards medical teams and ambulances was used during Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2024, when Israeli occupation forces targeted a Civil Defence station in Beirut’s Bachoura area, an ambulance near Marj’youn Hospital, Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbel both in South Lebanon and near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, to name just a few.
Back then, a human rights watchdog report found no evidence to substantiate the Israeli allegations that Hezbollah utilises ambulances for military reasons, highlighting that attacks on medical institutions without a sound military cause are illegal and may constitute war crimes.
Since late 2024, when a ceasefire was reached between the Israeli regime and the Hezbollah resistance movement, the regime has breached it thousands of times despite the Lebanese movement exercising strategic restraint.
Earlier this month, after repeatedly warning the Israeli regime against breaching the truce and urging the Lebanese authorities to take concrete measures to protect the people of Lebanon, especially in the South, from the Israeli aggression, Hezbollah finally decided to retaliate.
In the past two weeks, the resistance movement has carried out hundreds of retaliatory operations against the Israeli military targets in the occupied territories, imposing high costs on the enemy, much to the surprise of pundits who thought Hezbollah’s story was over.
- Hezbollah’s secretary-general has issued a strong warning to Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli prime minister threatened to assassinate him.
‘Your threat to assassinate me has no taste and no value. You are the one who should fear for yourself,’ Sheikh Naim Qassem said during an address on Friday, marking International Quds Day.
He reaffirmed Hezbollah’s determination, stating: ‘There is no such thing as defeat or surrender in our dictionary. We will remain strong in the field, no matter the sacrifices and offerings. We will not retreat, because this concerns our existence; this is an existential battle, not a limited or simple battle.
‘We have prepared ourselves for a long confrontation, they will be surprised on the battlefield, the enemy will see our might, and its threats do not frighten us.’
Sheikh Qassem warned of dire consequences for Lebanon if it did not resist, saying: ‘There is no solution except through resistance, otherwise, Lebanon is headed towards erasure.’
He stressed that the country faces an existential threat from Israel’s ‘dangerous and brutal aggression.
‘We are not in a sound situation; rather, we are facing barbaric actions that have been ongoing for 15 months.’
The Hezbollah secretary-general was pointing to the regime’s recurrent violations of a 2024 ceasefire deal with Hezbollah that was supposed to end Tel Aviv’s deadly escalation towards Lebanon.
He explained that Hezbollah had consulted at leadership levels over three meetings before deciding to confront the aggression.
In addition to the violations, Hezbollah has been motivated to confront the aggression due to the regime’s recent participation in joint aggression with the United States against Iran, which has resulted in the assassination of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei as well as many other atrocities.
Meanwhile, the Hezbollah leader, also addressed the issue of International Quds Day – an occasion so designated by the late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini as a means of galvanising international support for the Palestinian cause of liberation from Israeli occupation and aggression.
Sheikh Qassem recalled the words of Imam Khomeini, noting that al-Quds Day ‘is an international day that is not specific to al-Quds alone, but a day for the oppressed to confront the oppressors.’
He added: ‘This day holds symbolism in the call for the liberation of Palestine, and it holds symbolism in extending to all the oppressed in the world so they may be freed from the yoke of slavery and injustice.’
Sheikh Qassem also condemned the Israeli regime’s continued Western-backed occupation of Palestine, as ‘the greatest injustice in the world today.’
And he denounced the United States and other major powers for sponsoring and legitimising the occupation in 1948, describing it as ‘a cancerous growth’.
As a case in point concerning the regime’s Western-backed crimes, he cited Tel Aviv’s ongoing war of genocide against the Gaza Strip that has either killed or injured around 260,000 people so far.
Sheikh Qassem reaffirmed Hezbollah’s support for Palestine, stating: ‘We, as Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance, will remain with Palestine; we support and back it for the sake of full liberation.’
The resistance leader emphasised collective responsibility, saying: ‘All Arab and Islamic peoples are responsible for standing with al-Quds and Palestine, as are all free people in the world, because by doing so, they stand with themselves against the tyrants.’