An escalation of fighting on Lebanon's southern border would further strain hospitals already struggling with a lack of money in a national financial crisis, the Middle East chief of The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
The Middle East chief of The International Committee of the Red Cross, Fabrizio Carboni, attends an interview with Reuters at Marjayoun Hospital, in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon March 6, 2024. Reuters/Aziz Tahe
An escalation of fighting on Lebanon's southern border would further strain hospitals already struggling with a lack of money in a national financial crisis, the Middle East chief of The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah party has been exchanging fire with Israel across the border over the last five months in parallel with the Gaza war. More than 50 civilians have been killed in Israeli shelling on Lebanon, along with more than 200 Hezbollah fighters, according to medical and security sources.
Israel says about a dozen of its soldiers and half as many civilians have been killed in shelling from Lebanon into the north of the country.
Doctors in southern Lebanon have sounded the alarm, saying an influx of wounded has pushed the health sector to its limits.
Speaking to Reuters outside Lebanon's Marjayoun Hospital near the border with Israel, Fabrizio Carboni said Lebanon did not have the needed resources to support its health facilities.
"Then you also have a lot of health personnel who left the country – so, yes, there is a concern," he said.
"We know should something happen – and we hope the situation will not deteriorate – there will be a need for substantial medical support for the population in the south of Lebanon and all people affected by the conflict," Carboni said.
Marjayoun Hospital has 14 emergency beds and struggles to operate because of a lack of staff and, crucially, fuel shortages, its director has told Reuters. It runs on its own electricity generators for 20 hours a day, paying up to $20,000 a month for the fuel.
Carboni urged warring parties on the Lebanon-Israel border to respect the protected status of medical staff and facilities, saying it was "very concerning, very worrying" to see cases of rescue workers being killed in shelling.
Seven rescue workers and paramedics have been killed in Israeli shelling over the last five months, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
Reporting by Aziz Taher and Ahmad Kerdi
A Lebanese official denied on Thursday a Reuters report that Beirut had agreed with Israel to a shortlist of countries that could send troops to Lebanon to verify the disarmament of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and said it was following up on the issue with Washington.
Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defence minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that had suggested Israeli forces would occupy the territory indefinitely and drew U.S. criticism.
Israeli troops clashed with Jewish settlers on Wednesday while trying to disperse them from a West Bank outpost they set up directly in front of Palestinian homes, and later withdrew from the area after failing to clear the settlers, witnesses said.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.