Tuesday 05 / November / 2024
New York: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that the situation in Lebanon has now reached levels that exceeded the severity of the 2006 war, amid escalating hostilities.
"The healthcare sector continues to face relentless attacks, with facilities, staff and resources increasingly caught in the crossfire, further straining Lebanon’s already fragile health infrastructure," UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a press conference in New York.
He pointed out that an Israeli air strike near Tebnin Governmental Hospital in the Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon caused extensive damage to the hospital, injuring dozens of people, and another air strike near Baalbeck Governmental Hospital caused extensive damage to the facility.
Since October 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 110 healthcare workers have been killed in the line of duty in Lebanon, and there have been at least 60 attacks on healthcare facilities over the past 13 months.
The UN Spokesperson affirmed that the facilities of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) are still affected by the hostilities, calling on all actors to protect the UN peacekeeping forces.
Lebanon has been subjected to Israeli aggression since October 2023, but since the end of September 2024, the Israeli entity has increased the pace of aerial and artillery bombardment in an unprecedented manner, killing and injuring thousands of Lebanese, in addition to forcing more than a million people to flee their homes.
