Israeli military dropped bombs in ‘lethal proximity’ of at least 19 Lebanese hospitals

The ground shook, windows shattered, and the cries of patients filled the air. An Israeli bomb had just struck Beirut’s southern suburbs in yet another near-nightly attack – this time hitting a building across the street from Lebanon’s biggest public hospital.

“I was treating a patient when the bomb went off. I fell over him from the shock of it,” said Mohammad Fouani, an emergency room nurse at Rafik Hariri University Hospital, recalling the aftermath of the October 21 attack. “The smoke was so thick; I could barely see my fellow colleagues.”

“Since the start of the war, every night has been difficult,” Fouani told CNN. “But this was the worst by far. It was the most painful.”

Israel said the strike hit a Hezbollah target, though the area was not covered in Israeli military evacuation orders for locations with alleged links to the Iran-backed group in the south of Beirut. At least 18 people, including four children, were killed and 60 injured in the residential building some 70 meters away from the hospital, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Lebanon’s health sector has been in the thick of a ferocious Israeli air assault as Israel and Hezbollah trade fire in an ongoing war, with the country’s south and Beirut’s southern suburbs hardest hit. In the first month of its all-out air offensive in Lebanon, which began on September 23, Israeli strikes damaged 34 hospitals, killed 111 emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and hit 107 ambulances, according to data compiled by the Lebanese health ministry.

Around 20% of all hospitals registered with the health ministry in Lebanon have been damaged in a month of attacks, with most strikes landing in their vicinity, according to data compiled by medical authorities.

The Lebanese health ministry data and CNN’s analysis of airstrikes show that the Israeli military has dropped bombs within dangerous proximity of hospitals, which are protected under international law.

Responding to CNN’s request for comment, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it operates in strict accordance with international law and accused Hezbollah of being deeply embedded in civilian areas. “Hezbollah strategically places its military assets in close proximity to medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, as part of its human shield strategy,” it said.

For a country that has been embroiled in many cycles of war and crises, the Lebanese healthcare sector has rarely been so vulnerable to firepower, the country’s health minister, Dr. Firass Abiad, told CNN. Abiad accused Israel of “weaponizing” access to healthcare and drew parallels to Gaza, where Israel has openly attacked hospitals, accusing them of links to Hamas.

“Health institutions are supposed to be sanctuaries,” said Abiad. “It’s clear that this is premeditated, that this is a state policy that Israel is following, whether in Gaza or in Lebanon.”