Israeli Strikes Kill Two Hezbollah-Affiliated Paramedics in Qalaway and Tibnin, Lebanon Health Ministry Says

Lebanon’s health ministry said two paramedics from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee were killed and five others wounded on Sunday in Israeli strikes on the country’s south despite a ceasefire.

In a ministry statement, Israel “directly targeted, with two strikes, two Health Committee sites,” killing one paramedic and wounding three others in Qalaway, and killing another paramedic and wounding two others in Tibnin.

Al Jazeera

The Daily Sabah report also said the two paramedics were killed and five others were wounded Sunday, and it added that an earlier Israeli airstrike targeting Bedias killed a person and injured 13 others despite a truce.

Daily Sabah further tied the Sunday deaths to a broader sequence of strikes, saying a wave of Israeli attacks across Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 25 people, including two children, and injured several others.

Lebanon’s health ministry condemned the strikes as a continued breach of international law, saying the statement decried Israel’s continued “violation of international laws.”

In the same reporting, Daily Sabah described the ceasefire as in place since April 17 and later extended until mid-May, while also saying “the Israeli army continues to conduct daily strikes in Lebanon and exchange fire with Hezbollah.”

Al Jazeera

Daily Sabah said Hezbollah responded by claiming it targeted two separate groups of Israeli soldiers and military vehicles in southern Lebanon’s Rshaf and that it intercepted an Israeli drone above al-Abbasiyah using a surface-to-air missile.

The Al Jazeera net report said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the European Union to intensify pressure on Israel to compel it to halt the ceasefire and stop its ongoing air strikes on southern Lebanon.

The Al Jazeera net report said the European Union has provided since the outbreak of the war on March 2 aid totaling €100 million and sent six planes loaded with humanitarian aid, with a seventh plane expected to arrive on Saturday.

It also said the United Nations launched an emergency appeal to raise $308 million to support humanitarian work in Lebanon, but its agencies managed to raise only $126 million over two months.

The same report cited the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the organization has verified 152 attacks on the health sector in Lebanon, resulting in 103 deaths and 241 injuries since the war began on March 2.

In parallel, Democracy Now! reported that the U.N. warns over half of Lebanon’s 5.8 million people are in need of humanitarian aid after Israeli strikes since March killed at least 2,700 people and displaced over a million from their homes.