Four Lebanese hospitals suspend services amid Israeli bombing

BEIRUT: At least four hospitals in Lebanon announced Friday (Oct 4) the suspension of work amid ongoing Israeli bombardment, while Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers said 11 personnel were killed in Israeli raids in south Lebanon.
Also Friday, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged the international community to pressure Israel “to allow rescue and relief teams to reach bombed sites and allow them to move” casualties, with several dozen emergency personnel killed in recent days.
Sainte Therese Hospital on the edge of Beirut’s southern suburbs reported “huge damage” and said “Israeli warplanes’ targeting … the vicinity” of the facility on Thursday “led to the halt of hospital services”, in a statement carried by the official National News Agency (NNA).
South Lebanon’s Mais al-Jabal hospital on the border with Israel announced “the halt to work of all departments”, citing factors including “enemy targeting of the hospital” since last October and problems for supply lines and staff access.
The comment also came in a statement on the NNA.
The director of south Lebanon’s Marjayoun governmental hospital, Mouenes Kalakesh, told AFP that “an Israeli air strike targeted ambulances at the main entrance to the hospital”, killing paramedics who were bringing wounded to the facility.
He said the “staff shortages and today’s bombardment have forced the closure of the hospital”, located less than 10km from the border.
The Islamic Health Committee emergency service, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said seven emergency personnel died in “direct Zionist aggression on emergency teams” at the Marjayoun hospital, with four others killed in two attacks elsewhere in south Lebanon.
Israeli army Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Friday on X that “in recent days, we have observed the increasing use of rescue vehicles by Hezbollah members to transport operatives and equipment for fighting”.
“Hezbollah uses ambulances from the Islamic Health Committee for terrorist purposes”, he said, warning that “any vehicle proven to have an armed operative using it … will be subjected to appropriate measures”.
Later Friday, the NNA reported that the grounds of the Salah Ghandour hospital in Bint Jbeil were “subject to Israeli artillery shelling”.
Mohammed Sleiman, director of the Islamic Health Committee-run facility, told AFP that seven medical personnel were wounded when the hospital was struck “directly”, adding that the facility was evacuated.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire for almost a year, with the Iran-backed group saying it is acting in support of Palestinian ally Hamas over the Gaza war.
Israel, saying it is targeting Hezbollah in an effort to make Israel’s northern area safe for the return of displaced people, has intensified its bombardment campaign since September 23.
The bombing has killed more than 1,110 people, according to an AFP tally of official figures, and displaced up to one million, according to officials.
The Marjayoun hospital had been operating “for four days without an anaesthesiologist and laboratory specialists, because many people have fled”, Kalakesh said.
Earlier Friday, Hezbollah said an Israeli strike killed a rescuer at the site of an overnight air raid in south Beirut.
On Thursday, Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad said 97 rescuers had been killed since Hezbollah and Israel began fighting last October.
Among that number are more than 40 paramedics and firefighters killed by Israeli fire in just three days, he said.