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 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.
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, which killed one person.
Ali Nasreddine, a colleague and former classmate, described Serhan, a father of an eight-year-old girl, as generous, ready to offer a hand to anyone and noted his commitment to serving his community during times of conflict.
Since the onset of the war on March 2, more than 2,100 people have died, with the Lebanese health ministry reporting that at least 91 health workers have been killed and 208 wounded as a consequence of the ongoing fighting.
The health ministry condemned Wednesday's attacks as a flagrant crime, stating that it reflects a disregard for international humanitarian law that is meant to protect healthcare workers, especially during conflict. Amnesty International has also highlighted the potential for these actions to amount to war crimes.
