Israeli Strikes Kill Three Lebanese Civil Defense Rescue Workers in Majdal Zoun

Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed rescue workers in what Lebanese officials described as a “war crime,” as multiple outlets reported a “double-tap” pattern in the attack on Majdal Zoun.

The BBC said two successive Israeli air strikes on a building in Majdal Zoun on Tuesday killed five people, including three members of the Lebanese Civil Defense, a state-run emergency service, who were sent to rescue those wounded in the first strike.

Al Jazeera

The BBC reported that the three Civil Defense members were “trapped under rubble caused by the second strike and later confirmed dead,” while “Two Lebanese army soldiers were also wounded in the attack.”

The BBC named the three rescue workers killed on Tuesday as “Hussein Ghadbouni, Hussein Sati and Hadi Daher.”

Daily Sabah likewise reported that “Eight people, including civil defense rescuers were killed” in Israeli strikes on Tuesday, while Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the preliminary toll in Majdal Zoun was “killed five martyrs,” including “three paramedics from the Lebanese civil defense who were trapped under the rubble after a strike that targeted them while they were carrying out a rescue mission.”

Egypt Independent and Anadolu Ajansı both described the same Majdal Zoun incident as involving Civil Defense personnel trapped under rubble during a rescue and first aid operation after an Israeli airstrike.

The Majdal Zoun deaths occurred during a period of reduced hostilities that still left the conflict active, with the BBC describing a US-brokered ceasefire that “has led to a reduction in the hostilities but has failed to completely stop the war, particularly in southern Lebanon.”

The BBC said the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah started on 2 March after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel and Israel responded with “widespread air strikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.”

Al Jazeera

In the BBC’s account, the “double tap” tactic involves “an initial attack followed by a second or more - often hitting civilians and rescuers,” and it said the tactic “has been used by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza.”

The BBC also reported that Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the “targeting” of rescuers was a “war crime perpetrated by Israel,” condemning Israel’s “ongoing violations of the ceasefire.”

Daily Sabah framed the same Tuesday strikes as happening “despite an ongoing cease-fire,” and it tied the broader campaign to Israel’s troop deployment into south Lebanon “to battle the Hezbollah group,” with violence continuing despite a “shaky April 17 cease-fire.”

Anadolu Ajansı added that US President Donald Trump first announced a “10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon on April 17,” before saying Thursday it would be extended by three weeks, while also citing official Lebanese figures that “the Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed at least 2,534 people, wounded 7,863 others, and displaced more than 1.6 million people.”

Lebanese officials and agencies condemned the Majdal Zoun strike as part of a broader pattern of attacks on emergency responders, while Israeli statements in the BBC and other outlets focused on military targets and claimed operational context.

“Lebanon’s Labor Ministry has condemned the targeting of Civil Defense personnel as a crime against humanity, saying the attack is a desperate attempt to break the resilience of the Lebanese people”

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

The BBC reported that Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the “targeting” of the rescuers was a “war crime perpetrated by Israel,” condemning Israel’s “ongoing violations of the ceasefire.”

Daily Sabah quoted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denouncing the attack on Majdal Zoun, saying, “Israel continues to violate international laws and conventions that protect civilians.”

Al-Manar TV Lebanon, citing Lebanon’s Labor Ministry, said the targeting of Civil Defense personnel was “a crime against humanity,” and it quoted Labor Minister Dr. Mohammad Haidar saying, “Targeting paramedics while they are rescuing the wounded and providing first aid – resulting in deaths and injuries constitutes a crime against all of humanity, not just against Lebanon.”

The same Al-Manar statement added that the assault “flagrantly violates international laws and conventions that guarantee the protection of medical and emergency personnel,” and it called for the international community and human rights organizations “to work immediately to stop these attacks and to hold the perpetrators accountable under international law.”

The BBC said the Israeli military has continued air strikes and said it had hit Hezbollah infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing “three Hezbollah terrorists” who had attacked its soldiers.

The Majdal Zoun incident was reported with different death tolls and different emphases across outlets, reflecting divergence in how the same event was counted and contextualized.

The BBC described “two successive Israeli air strikes” that killed “five people, including three emergency workers,” and it said the three Civil Defense members were later confirmed dead after being trapped under rubble from the second strike.

Anadolu Ajansı

Daily Sabah, however, said “Eight people, including civil defense rescuers were killed,” while also reporting that the Health Ministry’s preliminary toll in Majdal Zoun was “killed five martyrs,” including “three paramedics from the Lebanese civil defense.”

ynetnews said “five people were killed in an Israeli strike on the village of Majdal Zoun in the Tyre area, including three civil defense medical personnel,” while Egypt Independent reported that the Lebanese Ministry of Health “later confirmed the deaths of five people, including three paramedics.”

Anadolu Ajansı described “three members were trapped under rubble” and focused on the Civil Defense being targeted during a rescue mission, without presenting the same consolidated toll framing as the BBC or Daily Sabah.

The language used to describe responsibility also differed: the BBC quoted Amnesty International’s Kristine Beckerle, saying that “deliberately striking medics performing their humanitarian functions is a serious violation,” while Lebanese officials and state-linked media called it a “war crime” and “crime against humanity.”

Beyond the immediate deaths, the sources describe a wider operational and humanitarian picture that includes additional strikes, evacuation orders, and ongoing claims about attacks on medical services.

Daily Sabah said the Health Ministry later reported “another two people were killed and 13 were injured in an Israeli strike in the town of Jebchit in southern Lebanon,” and it also reported “one person was killed and 15 were hurt – among them five children and five women – in a separate Israeli strike on Jwaya.”

AnewZ

Daily Sabah further described a fresh evacuation order after Israel issued it “aimed at residents in more than a dozen villages and towns,” urging them to “immediately head northwards,” and it quoted the army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee writing on X that the Tuesday evacuation warning urged residents to leave “immediately” and move “towards the Sidon District.”

The BBC reported that “more than 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 103 health professionals,” according to the Lebanese health ministry, and it said the number includes “at least 270 women and more than 170 children.”

Islam Times said that “as of April 27, occupation forces have carried out 130 attacks on emergency medical services, damaging 25 EMS units and 117 vehicles,” and it added that “100 healthcare workers” were martyred and “233 injured,” with “16 hospitals” damaged and “four” forced to close.

In the immediate aftermath of the Majdal Zoun strike, ynetnews reported that a post on Nawaf Salam’s X account called it “a war crime committed by Israel,” adding that “The government will spare no effort to condemn this heinous crime in international forums and will mobilize all efforts to force Israel to stop its continued violations of the ceasefire agreement.”