The Collective of Lebanese Voluntary NGOs issued a statement calling on the relevant international bodies and all countries of the world to take immediate action to stop the deliberate Israeli attacks on the health sector in Lebanon to prevent a repeat of the Gaza scenario. This is especially urgent in light of the recent Israeli threat against all civil defense and ambulance crews moving in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs. Israel has worked to completely paralyze and destroy the health and medical sector in Gaza, including the destruction of health facilities and vehicles and the targeting of doctors, paramedics, and civil defense workers, attempting to prevent them from fulfilling their duties as they did in Gaza.
From November 2023 until today, several hospitals and health facilities belonging to humanitarian and health organizations have suffered damage and loss of life due to Israeli bombings. These include centers affiliated with the Assembly, such as the Islamic Health Authority and the Amel International Foundation. Many martyrs have fallen among health, humanitarian, and civil defense workers. Of the 1,974 martyrs in Lebanon, 101 were paramedics and nurses, 11 were health workers, and there were also 225 wounded, along with damage to 9 hospitals, 45 medical centers, and 128 vehicles.
The statement considered this ongoing and blatant violation of international humanitarian law a disgrace to the civilized world, emphasizing that such practices must be stopped for international and humanitarian law to retain any respect or role among nations. Targeting workers in the health sector amounts to destroying everything that human civilization has built over the past decades and reverting to a logic where it might make right, undermining the essence of human rights and humanitarian law.
The General Coordinator of the Collective of Lebanese Voluntary NGOs, Dr. Kamel Mehanna, commented: “As Lebanese humanitarian institutions deeply rooted in Lebanese society, we affirm that our workers and volunteers will not abandon the frontlines, even in the face of these attacks. We pledge to our people that our commitment to human rights remains unshaken by threats. However, we call on all countries to take responsibility for stopping this madness, implementing the international laws they claim to uphold, and not applying double standards to our regions and peoples.”
He added: “These Israeli crimes must be added to the cases brought against Israel in international courts, and as Lebanese humanitarian institutions, we will pursue this matter. We also call on all health workers around the world to take swift action and pressure governments to stop these massacres against the health sector and to save humanitarian laws before they become mere ink on paper, losing with them all the humanitarian standards that distinguish us from a savage world.”
