An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon has killed 12 medical workers, according to Lebanese health officials, raising fresh concerns about the safety of humanitarian personnel operating in conflict zones.
Authorities said the victims were paramedics and emergency responders who had been working in the area to assist civilians affected by earlier attacks. The strike reportedly hit while the medical teams were carrying out rescue operations, killing multiple members of the emergency crews. The incident has drawn renewed scrutiny over attacks involving humanitarian personnel. During the wider Gaza genocide, more than 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed, according to health authorities and humanitarian organizations.
Reported casualties among medical staff include:
165 doctors
260 nurses
184 health associates
76 pharmacists
Hundreds of other hospital staff and emergency responders
Human rights groups have repeatedly warned that attacks on medical personnel and health facilities violate international humanitarian norms designed to protect healthcare workers in war zones. Some analysts and observers say the latest strike in Lebanon appears to follow a broader pattern seen during the Gaza conflict, where hospitals, medical facilities and even schools were targeted by Israel or destroyed during fighting.
Similar concerns have also been raised following recent attacks reported in Iran, where facilities near civilian infrastructure have been hit, including a missile strike on a girls’ primary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab that killed more than 170 people, most of them children, according to local reports. As violence spreads across the region, humanitarian organizations say the growing toll among medical workers is placing already fragile healthcare systems under extreme strain.
