By Abdelaziz Boumzar and Yara Nardi
NABATIEH, Lebanon, March 25 (Reuters) – Wearing identical uniforms, a dozen paramedics gathered around a pair of caskets in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh, crying so heavily their shoulders shook, as they prepared to bury two of their own killed in an Israeli strike.
Ali Jaber and Joud Sleiman were hit on Tuesday as they headed out on a motorcycle in southern Lebanon on a rescue mission, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Both were wearing paramedic uniforms and their motorcycle was clearly marked as an ambulance complete with flashing lights.
“A paramedic who doesn’t even have a knife, going to save someone else – they strike him and kill him. This has happened in more than one strike, more than one place,” said Hassan Jaber, Ali’s father and a local official.
Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 42 paramedics have been killed by Israeli strikes on Lebanon since March 2, when militant group Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the regional war by firing on Israel in support of its patron, Iran.
Israel’s strikes and sweeping orders for people to evacuate swathes of southern Lebanon have emptied once-thriving Nabatieh of most of its residents.
After the funeral, Nabatieh’s grief-stricken paramedics gathered in the town square to distribute aid to the few remaining townspeople.
Then, they went straight back to work.
INTERNATIONAL LAW ‘INK ON PAPER’ IN LEBANON
Among them was Joud’s father, Mohammed Sleiman – Nabatieh’s chief paramedic.
He accused Israel of deliberately killing his son, saying that Israel “insists on damaging, on killing, on oppressing, on terrorising – and we insist on staying.”
International humanitarian law offers protections for civilians, including medics and journalists.
But Nabatieh’s rescuers say they have seen little evidence that international norms are shielding them.
“Unfortunately, we see that in Lebanon, that’s just ink on paper, it’s not being applied at all,” said Hassan Jaber, a 43-year-old paramedic who shares the same name as Ali’s father.
Israel’s strikes in Lebanon have wounded more than 3,000 people and killed nearly 1,100, including more than 120 children and 80 women. The World Health Organization says there have been 64 attacks on healthcare facilities across Lebanon since March 2 and that five hospitals are out of service.
Two Israeli troops in Lebanon and one woman in northern Israel have been killed by Hezbollah attacks.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the medics killed and health facilities damaged in its strikes.
STRIKES ON RESCUERS ‘DOUBLY DAMAGING’
Rescuers say they are taking their own precautions.
Khodr Ghandour, a civil defense worker in Nabatieh, told Reuters that rescuers were only going out two at a time to minimise the number of those at risk from an Israeli strike.
He said that in several cases rescuers have been pushed back as additional Israeli strikes have blocked them from reaching victims of the original attack.
Mehdi Sadeq, a founding member of Nabatieh’s paramedic unit, said the risk of being caught up in a double-tap strike meant rescuers were being forced to delay rescue operations.
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Reza, told Reuters that all parties to the conflict must respect international law and avoid targeting those helping civilians.
“It’s doubly damaging to have health workers targeted and killed in this conflict.”
(Reporting by Abdelaziz Boumzar and Yara Nardi in Nabatieh; Additional reporting and writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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