Key Points
- At least four hospitals in Lebanon have announced the suspension of services amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.
- Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah commanders and military equipment and aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders.
- The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006.
The head of the United Nations refugee agency arrived in Lebanon on Saturday on a “solidarity” visit for the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese affected by Israeli bombardment and needing international support.
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said on social network X that “Lebanon faces a terrible crisis” as “hundreds of thousands of people are left destitute or displaced by Israeli air strikes”.
“I have come here in solidarity with those affected, to support the humanitarian effort and to ask for more international help,” he said.
Health system ‘on brink of collapse’
Also on Saturday, UN humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon Imran Riza warned about the impact of the strikes on health care, as Israel hits what it says are Hezbollah targets.
“Throughout the past days we have been witnessing an alarming increase in attacks against health care” in Lebanon, Riza said in a statement on X.
“Health workers are paying the heaviest price with their lives. The health system is on the brink of collapsing,” he warned.
A day earlier, at least four hospitals in Lebanon announced the suspension of services amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.
Rescuers from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said 11 personnel were killed in Israeli raids in south Lebanon.
On Thursday, Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said 97 rescuers had been killed since Hezbollah and Israel began fighting in October, including more than 40 paramedics and firefighters killed by Israeli fire in just three days.
Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs
It comes as for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Israel’s attack on the Beddawi camp near Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli killed an official with Hamas’ military wing along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palestinian militant group said.
Hamas later said another military wing member was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.
Israel’s military said it killed two senior officials with Hamas’ military wing in Lebanon, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks.
At least 1,400 Lebanese, also including civilians and paramedics, have been killed and nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon into Syria in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee.
