MSF condemns Israeli forces’ killing of paramedics in Lebanon

On May 12, a drone strike hit three paramedics as they were attempting to assist an injured person who survived a previous attack. Two of them were killed on the spot. Another paramedic who was wounded was later treated in the Najdeh Al-Shaabiyeh Hospital emergency room, where MSF teams are working. Paramedics from the ambulance that departed from Najdeh Al-Shaabiyeh Hospital — who had witnessed the strike on their colleagues — later had to return to the site to collect human remains from the scene.

“We are outraged over the killing of paramedics who were simply doing their job, taking huge risks to save lives,” said Jeremy Ristord, MSF head of mission in Lebanon. “Attacks on health care are unacceptable and must not be normalized.”

While scaling up support at Al Najdeh Hospital to respond to mass casualty incidents over the past months, MSF teams have worked side by side with paramedics and frontline responders across Nabatiyeh Governorate, including the Lebanese Civil Defence, as they have brought injured and sick patients to the hospital.

Health care workers and facilities have been repeatedly attacked

The May 12 incident is part of an alarming pattern. Over recent weeks, MSF teams in Lebanon have been witnessing the consequences of airstrikes, drone strikes, and artillery fire, which are damaging hospitals, ambulances, and medical equipment, and killing or injuring civilians, health workers, and first responders. Lebanese health authorities, media, and other humanitarian organizations have also reported this kind of violence, including repeated attacks while paramedics are rescuing people.

In Nabatiyeh and across southern Lebanon, rescue and medical teams are increasingly forced to delay or limit lifesaving interventions because of the fear of being targeted. Ambulance crews supported by MSF report spending only minutes at blast sites due to the risk of repeated strikes. They have also had to limit their use of excavation equipment given the limited time they can safely spend at sites, leaving some people trapped under rubble for hours or days. MSF has treated patients whose conditions were critically worsened by these delays, including people with severe trauma who later died from their injuries.

In total, since MSF started supporting Najdeh Al-Shaabiyeh Hospital at the beginning of March, 725 injured patients have been treated and 232 arrived dead or died in the hospital.

According to the World Health Organization, there were 161 attacks against health care recorded between March 2 and May 12, resulting in 110 deaths and 252 injuries. This includes 15 attacks resulting in 12 deaths and 21 injuries that occurred after the start of the ceasefire on April 17, which has not led to a cessation of hostilities and has not allowed displaced populations to return home or people stranded in heavily targeted areas to seek safety.

MSF calls for an immediate end to the continuous attacks on medical and rescue personnel, facilities, and offices, as well as on the violence that continuously places civilians and those trying to save their lives at risk. Health care workers, first responders, ambulances, and medical facilities are protected under international humanitarian law. Their killing not only devastates families and colleagues but further weakens already strained emergency response and health care systems.

MSF is supporting several paramedical and emergency services in the governorates of Nabatiyeh and the South, including the Lebanese Civil Defence team targeted in the May 12 incident, through the provision of ambulance equipment, first aid supplies and medications, fuel, and protective gears. MSF is also running clinics in the area and supporting seven hospitals with donations of fuel, supplies, and medications. In four of these hospitals, MSF has teams working with emergency room staff.