THe began air strikes just before noon. Injuries and deaths quickly followed. When the ground in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun began to shake from the relentless approach of Israeli bombs, Shoshan Mazrani surrendered to muscle memory.
As an emergency room director at a public hospital, she was familiar with the rigorous logistics of post-bomb triage procedures. Then, after five grueling hours, the hustle and bustle of the emergency room was interrupted by a long whistle.
Doctors reflexively turned away after almost a year of war. An explosion then blew out the hospital's doors, shattered windows and opened cracks in the hospital's walls.
“When I heard the rocket, I thought it was going to hit us. Then there was tremendous pressure inside the hospital and the doors rattled. I really thought it was the rocket that hit us. ,” Mazurani said.
Last Monday, two airstrikes struck just meters from the hospital, damaging the interior and forcing medical workers to suspend operations until they know if they were under attack.
The airstrike surprised Mazurani. Marjayoun, which U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon colloquially refer to as the beginning of the “Christian Corridor,” is relatively untouched by fighting. In late July, residents of the town jogged to enjoy the scenery, a United Nations armored personnel carrier passed by, and smoke could be seen billowing from the hills just a few miles away.
Marjayoun's hospital in particular seemed safe. But on September 23, when Israel launched punitive airstrikes on Lebanon that have so far killed 700 people and injured more than 2,000, medical workers suddenly found themselves in danger. .
At least 50 paramedics have been killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon in the past two weeks, more than doubling the number of medics killed since fighting began between Hezbollah and Israel last year. There is.
All of the emergency workers killed in the past two weeks belonged to health services affiliated with either Hezbollah or Amal, another Shiite party. Human rights experts say these affiliations do not affect their status protected under international law.
Israeli airstrikes last week began hitting areas near hospitals in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, one airstrike landed next to Bint Jubail Hospital, and another struck the suburb of Tibnine Public Hospital, where an ambulance was approaching. A vacant building next to Raghev Harb University Hospital near Nabatieh was attacked on Wednesday and again on Thursday.
The strike continued this week. Early Thursday morning, Israel attacked the medical center of the Islamic Health Organization, a Hezbollah-affiliated emergency medical service, in central Beirut, killing at least nine people and wounding 14 others.
Emergency workers said they were beginning to notice a pattern in the airstrikes, and that Israeli airstrikes would follow whenever they arrived at a location to begin rescue operations. In one case, an ambulance crashed into the town of Sukhmua in the western Bekaa Valley last Monday just after the team got out of their car. Photos of vehicles engulfed in flames were circulated in Lebanese media.
Meanwhile, emergency workers heard an audio warning in Arabic warning people to evacuate the medical center, said Rabbi Issa, local commissioner of the Islamic Kashafat al-Rissala medical organization, which serves much of southern Lebanon. Emergency workers say they are starting to receive strange calls.
Last Wednesday, although the building was not bombed, emergency services from two different villages were alerted and staff were forced to stop work and evacuate. These warnings are in contrast to Israel's mass call the previous week, which warned 80,000 Lebanese to stay away from buildings suspected of containing Hezbollah weapons ahead of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon. was intended only for medical workers.
Human rights experts said targeting health workers and false calls for evacuation are prohibited by international law.
Ramzi Qais, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The attacks on the area are primarily aimed at causing panic among the population or forcing people to leave the area for reasons other than safety. “Calls for evacuation are prohibited under customary international humanitarian law.”
He said medical workers and facilities “regardless of their affiliation” cannot be targeted unless they are “performing acts harmful to the enemy or medical facilities are being used to do so.” he added.
In response to claims that it was targeting emergency workers and hospitals, the Israeli military told the Guardian: “(The Israel Defense Forces) operate in strict accordance with international law and take every possible precaution to reduce harm to civilians during operations.”
Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a plastic surgeon who worked in Gaza last year and is now in Beirut, said the treatment of medical workers in southern Lebanon over the past two weeks was reminiscent of Israeli tactics in Gaza.
“On October 12, five days before the attack on al-Ahly hospital, hospital directors in Gaza received a phone call, accusing them that there would be deaths if the hospital was attacked,'' Abu Sitta said. said. He said he was concerned that the damage to south Lebanon's health system was part of Israel's strategy to remove residents from areas along the Lebanese-Israel border.
Medical workers are getting nervous as the calls and bombs follow them wherever they go.
“We are worried that we will be bombed,” Mazurani said, adding that he was trying to keep the team's morale high. “There are still people here, so I want to continue to work as hard as I can.”
She added with pride that despite the danger, no one from her department left Marjayoun. “Maybe it's because I haven't left the house,” she said. “If I leave, morale will go down and other people will probably leave too.”
