Lebanon: Israeli attacks after ceasefire cause mass casualties and overwhelm hospitals
MSF emergency coordinator describes chaos as wounded civilians, including children, flood overwhelmed hospitals
Less than 10 hours after the announcement of regional ceasefire, a little after 2 p.m., Israeli forces struck multiple cities and towns across Lebanon. This large-scale attack by Israeli forces struck multiple locations, including in the cities of Beirut, Saida and Baalbek, with reports of high influxes of patients in multiple hospitals. According to Ministry of Public Health, hundreds of people have been killed and injured.
These indiscriminate strikes on densely populated areas are completely unacceptable.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are responding to mass influx of injured patients, including children, at Rafik Hariri public hospital in Beirut. Patients are arriving with shrapnel injuries and heavy bleeding. One patient arrived at the hospital having lost both legs. The situation is chaotic as more people are brought in. MSF teams are mobilizing and sending more support to other hospitals in impacted areas.
Earlier this morning, MSF teams in the Jabal Amel hospital in Sour, southern Lebanon, responded to an influx of injured patients, including one child who lost six members of her family. One of the families brought in had returned home a few hours before being injured, thinking there was a ceasefire in place. At the same time healthcare staff are being injured and pushed to exhaustion. Last night, the Hiram hospital, also in Sour, where MSF has provided donations, was struck by Israeli forces injuring multiple healthcare workers.
Continuous attacks on civilians must stop. Healthcare facilities, staff and patients need to be protected. The repeated forcible displacement of people – a war crime – needs to stop.
