2 emergency medical workers killed, 4 more injured in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon

ANKARA

Two emergency medical workers were killed and four others injured in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Saturday, indicating that the Israeli army targeted the on-duty paramedics who were attempting to provide first aid to injured people and transport them to a hospital.

In a statement, the ministry said two paramedics are missing, and rescue efforts are underway to locate them.

The ministry said one medic from the Islamic Scout Association in Burj Rahal was killed early in the morning while attempting to rescue a wounded person.

Another medic was killed and four others were injured when an Israeli airstrike hit an Islamic Health Association emergency response team in Kfar Tibnit, it said, adding that two medics are still missing.

The ministry condemned Israel’s “barbaric” attacks on health workers, describing them as “unprecedented levels of violence that are completely contrary to humanitarian values.”

Israel’s repeated strikes on health care workers are “dangerous and malicious violations,” it warned, urging the international community to intervene and end Israel’s “culture of violence and genocide.”

Israel launched an air campaign in Lebanon against what it claims are targets of the Hezbollah group in late September, in an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare.

More than 3,400 people have been killed, nearly 14,600 injured and more than 1 million displaced by Israeli attacks since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching a ground assault into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi

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