NGOs in Lebanon denounce Israeli attacks on medics amid ceasefire

Aid organizations operating in Lebanon are issuing urgent condemnations of what they describe as deliberate Israeli strikes on medical personnel and ambulances, even as fragile ceasefire negotiations continue to stall and the death toll from the conflict climbs past 3,900.

Attacks on medical workers escalate

Since Hezbollah’s rocket launches into northern Israel on March 2nd — framed by the group as retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader — Israel’s military campaign has carved a brutal path through Lebanese civilian infrastructure. Hospitals in the south have been repeatedly struck. Ambulance convoys have come under fire. And medical workers trying to reach the wounded have described being targeted while wearing clearly marked vests.

Dr. Mina Naguib, an emergency physician with Doctors Without Borders currently stationed in Beirut, said the situation her teams are facing is unlike anything she’s encountered in years of field work. “We are not able to guarantee the safety of our staff,” she told this reporter by phone on Wednesday. “Our vehicles are marked. Our routes are communicated in advance. And still, we are being hit.”

Doctors Without Borders confirmed that at least seven of its local staff members have been killed since the conflict began, and that two of its ambulances have sustained direct damage from strikes.

A population under siege

The human cost extends far beyond the front lines. Roughly 20% of Lebanon’s population has been displaced — an estimated 1.3 million people who have fled their homes, many of them sleeping in schools, parking structures, or with relatives in Beirut’s already overcrowded neighborhoods. The capital itself isn’t safe. Airstrikes hit a southern suburb of the city as recently as Tuesday night.

Dr. Naguib described emergency rooms running at more than double capacity. “We’re performing surgeries in hallways,” she said. “We’ve had to make decisions about who gets care and who doesn’t. That’s not medicine. That’s triage under catastrophe.”

NGOs demand accountability

A coalition of sixteen humanitarian organizations — including Doctors Without Borders, the International Rescue Committee, and CARE International — released a joint statement Thursday demanding an immediate investigation into the attacks on medical personnel. They’re calling on the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency session.

But there’s little optimism about what that would produce.

“We’ve made these calls before,” said a spokesperson for the IRC. “The difference now is that the scale of violations makes silence impossible to maintain.”

Israel’s military has not issued a direct response to the NGO coalition’s statement. A spokesperson said previously that the IDF takes all allegations seriously and investigates reported incidents.

What comes next

Ceasefire talks mediated through Qatari and French diplomatic channels resumed this week, though no agreement is in sight. Aid organizations won’t say they’re optimistic. What they will say is that every day without a deal means more bodies in the street and more medics afraid to do their jobs. Dr. Naguib put it plainly: “We’ll stay as long as we can. But this can’t go on much longer.”