Paramedics in southern Lebanon risk Israeli strikes while rescuing civilians, with 38 healthcare workers killed since March amid accusations of targeting medical teams.
BEIRUT: Youssef Assaf was in a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance when it was targeted by an Israeli strike near Tyre. The 35-year-old paramedic died of his wounds two days later.
His wife, Jeanne d’Arc Boutros, learned of his injury in a late-night call after fleeing to northern Lebanon. “I knew my husband is strong and can endure,” the 32-year-old schoolteacher said.
Assaf is one of 38 Lebanese healthcare workers killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, according to the health ministry. The ministry stated he died from wounds sustained while on a rescue mission.
“How can they wound or kill paramedics who are saving people?” asked Boutros, a mother of three. She collapsed upon hearing the news of his death.
The head of the Lebanese Red Cross, Georges Kettaneh, said their teams operate only after notifying the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers. He stressed the urgent need for secure access for paramedics.
Kettaneh confirmed the Red Cross has contacted the foreign ministry to engage the UN regarding the protection of medical teams. The repeated strikes have become a source of fear for healthcare workers across the south.
Mona Abou Zeid, who runs a hospital in Nabatieh, described the continuous shelling as making the situation very difficult. “We are afraid for our paramedics who move around to transport the wounded,” she added.
Fears intensified after 12 healthcare workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a medical centre in Bourj Qalawiyah. The centre belonged to the Islamic Health Authority, a civil defence organisation affiliated with Hezbollah.
Fatima Shoumar’s husband, a nurse, was among those killed. “These people were doctors, nurses, they help children,” she said, emphasising they were not military personnel.
The Israeli military accuses Hezbollah of “extensively using ambulances for military purposes”. The Lebanese health ministry dismissed this as a justification for crimes “against humanity”.
Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Israel has not provided evidence that attacked facilities were used militarily. He stated that if evidence exists, Israel must issue a warning before any attack.
The health ministry reports 53 attacks on paramedics, 13 on medical centres, and 30 on ambulances since the conflict began. Kaiss noted the pattern is similar to a previous period where over 220 health workers were killed.
Paramedic Nasser Ajram, working for a local NGO in Sidon, said the strikes show “there are no more red lines”. He remains determined but anxious, having barely seen his family for weeks.
For Boutros, the loss is irreparable. Her four-year-old son still asks when his father will come home. “He loved helping people… he did a lot in his life, and then he left,” she said.
