Three paramedics killed in successive Israeli strikes in Lebanon, officials say

Three successive Israeli attacks have killed at least three paramedics in southern Lebanon in one day, including one featured in a BBC report this week, Lebanese officials say, as they accuse Israel of deliberately targeting health workers in its war against Hezbollah.

A team from the Islamic Health Association, an emergency service linked to Hezbollah, was attacked as it tried to rescue people from the site of an Israeli attack in the town of Mayfadoun, in the Nabatieh region on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese health ministry. One paramedic was killed and a second remains missing.

When a second team from the Islamic Health Association headed to the site, it too was attacked, and three paramedics were wounded, the ministry said. Then, two ambulances of the Risala Scout Association and the Nabatieh Ambulance Service, which had been deployed to the site, were also attacked. Two paramedics were killed and three others wounded.

The Israeli military has been approached for comment.

The victims included Fadel Serhan, a 43-year-old paramedic with the Risala Scout Association.

Earlier this month, the BBC spent several days with Serhan's team in Nabatieh, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Israeli military during the past six weeks of war with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militia and political party.

Serhan's team was operating in a tent set up outside the city's Nabih Berri Hospital after their own station in Mayfadoun was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the first days of the war, killing one person.

Ali Nasreddine, a colleague and former classmate, had known Serhan, a father of an eight-year-old girl, for over 30 years.

"He was generous, ready to offer a hand to anyone. He had a very high sense of humanity and a great sense of humour," he said.

"In the previous war he had stayed here to offer help. In this war, he had also stayed. I'll always remember him as a loving father, brother, and friend."

More than 2,100 people have been killed and 7,000 others wounded since the start of the war in Lebanon on 2 March, according to the country's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The number includes at least 260 women and 172 children.

The ministry says 91 health professionals have been killed and 208 other wounded in the war, with more than 120 Israeli attacks recorded on ambulances and medical facilities.

The Risala Scout Association is affiliated with the Amal Movement, a Shia Muslim group.

Israel has frequently accused Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes, without providing evidence. Lebanon's health minister has denied the claims.

In a statement, the health ministry said Wednesday's attacks were a "flagrant crime". "Paramedics have become direct targets, pursued relentlessly in a blatant violation that confirms a total disregard for all norms and principles established by international humanitarian law," it said.

In a report last month, Kristine Beckerle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at the human rights group Amnesty International, said: "Under international humanitarian law, civilians, including healthcare workers, do not lose their protected status simply based on an affiliation."

Beckerle also said that "deliberately striking medics performing their humanitarian functions is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime."

Hezbollah attacks have killed two civilians in Israel over the same period, while 13 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon, Israeli authorities say.

Additional reporting by Neha Sharma and Angie Mrad