28 healthcare workers, nine Israel soldiers, killed in Lebanon
Israel’s announcement that it would conduct a limited, precise, ground invasion in Lebanon was proven to be misplaced within hours of the ground incursion commencing.
Heavy bombardment has accompanied the entry of ground troops into Lebanon, with central Beirut targeted on Thursday, for the first time since the second Lebanon war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers, most of them aged twenty-one were killed on the opening day: Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, Captain Harel Etinger, Captain Itai Ariel Giat, Sergeant First Class Noam Barzilay, Sergeant First Class Or Mantzur, Sergeant First Class Nazaar Itkin, Staff Sergeant Almken Terefe and Staff Sergeant Ido Broyer, and Ben Zion Falach.
More than 70 Lebanese towns have been evacuated under orders from the Israeli army. Hospitals, ambulances, and healthcare workers have been targeted in a way similar to the Israeli army’s tactics in Gaza.
Israel Air Force fighter planes bombed medical centre near downtown Beirut killing at least nine people on Wednesday night
“In Lebanon alone, 28 health workers have been killed in the last 24 hours,” WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva on Thursday.
“Monday marks one year since the horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed groups on Israel. Those attacks began a chain of events that have caused unspeakable suffering to civilians in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and now in Lebanon,” Tedros said.
“Since the 7th of October last year, more than 1,500 people have been killed in Israel, almost 42,000 in Gaza, and more than 700 in the West Bank. In addition, more than 10,000 people are missing in Gaza, and 1.9 million people are displaced, while 101 hostages taken from Israel remain in Gaza.”
“In Lebanon, more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than one million displaced, including 350,000 now living in shelters, and 160,000 who have crossed the border into Syria,” the WHO director-general said..
“In southern Lebanon, 37 health facilities have been closed, while in Beirut, three hospitals have been forced to fully evacuate staff and patients, and another two were partially evacuated.”
Dr Abdinasir Abubakar, acting WHO Representative in Lebanon briefed the reporters via a video link. He said, “Most of those health care workers that’s been killed for the last 24 hours. Most of them were, actually all of them, were on duty. Some of them were in the ambulances, some of them were in the health facilities.”
The acting WHO Representative in Lebanon said, “What I can say for now is the capacity to do mass casualty management exists but it’s just a matter of time until the system actually reaches to its limit.”
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