Amnesty International called, on Wednesday, for an investigation into the Israeli army's attacks on healthcare facilities in southern Lebanon during the war with Hezbollah that began on October 8, 2023.
“Israel’s unlawful attacks on medical facilities and personnel are not only serious violations of international humanitarian law and likely war crimes but also have devastating consequences for civilians more broadly,” stressed Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Amnesty International. She also called on the Lebanese government, “with the support of the international community, to step up and act to ensure that suspected perpetrators of war crimes can be held accountable.”
“The new Lebanese government must grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over all Rome Statue crimes committed on or perpetrated from its territory,” she added.
Amnesty presented the results of its investigations into four Israeli attacks on medical facilities and vehicles in Beirut and southern Lebanon, between October 3 and 9, 2024. These strikes killed 19 medical workers, wounded 11 others and destroyed or damaged several ambulances and two medical facilities in the space of a week.
The Israeli army had justified these attacks by accusing Hezbollah of using the medical facilities for military purposes, but Amnesty International claimed to have found no evidence of this.
Between October 2023 and November 2024, Israeli bombardments hit 67 hospitals, 56 primary care centers and 238 emergency medical teams, resulting in the deaths of at least 222 first-aiders and caregivers, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Comments