In a series of targeted Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, four medical personnel have been killed and six others injured, according to Lebanese officials. The Lebanese government has accused Israel of intentionally targeting medical teams.

The strikes took place in the village of Mayfadoun, located near the larger town of Nabatiyeh. The first attack hit a team of medics responding to an emergency call from injured civilians. A second group of medical responders was attacked while attempting to assist their wounded colleagues, and a third group was targeted while rushing to support the initial two teams.

The Israeli military has not provided a detailed response to the incident, stating only that they are “looking into” the situation. Previously, Israel has accused Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran, of using ambulances for military operations, although no concrete evidence has been presented to substantiate these claims.

The Lebanese Health Ministry has denounced the airstrikes as a “blatant violation” of international law, expressing strong condemnation of the attacks.

Abou Haidar Hayya, a representative from the Islamic Health Committee involved in the rescue efforts, expressed concern over the direct targeting of medical teams. He warned that such actions suggest “there are no more red lines in this war.”

Abou Haidar Hayya, an official with the Islamic Health Committee involved in the rescue operation, said he feared such direct targeting of medics meant “there are no more red lines in this war”.

“Ambulances are protected under all international laws and conventions. It is forbidden to target them. And when those prohibitions collapse, we have nothing left,” he said by phone from the health centre in Nabitiyeh.

Since the Israel-Hezbollah war began on 2 March, at least 91 Lebanese medical workers have been killed by Israel, the ministry said, underscoring the intensity of the ongoing strikes and strain on Lebanon’s health system.

The overall death toll from the war in Lebanon jumped to 2,167 on Wednesday.

Back-to-back attacks on medics

Israel first struck a team from Lebanon’s Islamic Health Committee, a major healthcare provider that is affiliated with Hezbollah’s political movement, killing two paramedics, the group said.

A second team from the committee headed to the site and was struck in another Israeli attack that wounded three medical workers, the ministry reported.

The Nabatiyeh Emergency Services, as well as the Islamic Risala Scout Association, a paramedic group affiliated with the Amal movement, a Hezbollah ally, mounted a third rescue attempt.

They were hit by a strike that killed two more medics.

Most of the wounded medics remain in moderate condition except for one, who is in a serious condition after being hit in the chest by shrapnel, the Islamic Health Committee said.

Footage captured by the Nabatiyeh Emergency Services shows the second team of medics wearing their uniforms and riding in clearly marked emergency vehicles struggling to pull their bloodied colleagues out of wrecked ambulances that had veered onto the side of the road.

Rescue workers are seen administering aid to two wounded colleagues on stretchers in the back of an ambulance when an Israeli strike smashes into the vehicle, blowing out its windows and sending glass shattering everywhere.

The camera shakes, and the medic who was treating his colleagues screams in pain.

The video then shows a third team arriving to help the others before being attacked.

Hayya, from the Islamic Health Committee, said he doesn’t regret dispatching one team after another into the line of fire.

“We went in three times because we refuse to leave our paramedics behind, even if it costs all of us our lives,” he said.

He promised that the Islamic Health Committee and other paramedic groups would continue to carry out their duties in southern Lebanon despite the increasingly impossible conditions.

Israel expands its ground invasion

Across southern Lebanon, Israeli forces said they had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets over the past 24 hours.

Hezbollah claimed rocket attacks on military targets in northern Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address late Wednesday that he had ordered the military to expand its so-called “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon toward the east.

The Israeli military has issued evacuation warnings for wide swaths of southern Lebanon but tens of thousands of people have stayed— either because they don’t want to leave their homes or because they have nowhere to go.

Increasingly, though, residents say nowhere feels safe.

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