TYRE, Lebanon — Israeli strikes killed four medics and wounded six other rescue workers in the southern Lebanese village of Mayfadoun, near Nabatiyeh, Lebanese paramedic groups and the Health Ministry said. The back-to-back attacks hit successive emergency teams responding to wounded civilians and came a day after rare Lebanese-Israeli talks in Washington, April 15.
According to an Associated Press report, the first strike hit a team from Lebanon’s Islamic Health Committee, a second hit rescuers trying to reach them, and a third struck another rescue attempt involving Nabatiyeh Emergency Services and the Islamic Risala Scout Association. The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident and has previously accused Hezbollah of using ambulances as cover for militant activity without publicly providing evidence. Abou Haidar Hayya, an official involved in the rescue, said the targeting of medics showed “there are no more red lines in this war.”
The Lebanese Health Ministry said 91 medical workers had been killed since March 2, while the overall death toll in Lebanon had risen to 2,167.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon deepen pressure on medics and hospitals
The strike in Mayfadoun comes amid a broader assault on health workers. On March 28, Reuters reported that the World Health Organization said nine paramedics were killed and seven were wounded in five separate attacks on health care in southern Lebanon.
The strain has spread beyond the front lines. On April 9, Reuters reported that Lebanon’s hospitals could run out of vital medical supplies within days, citing WHO warnings and U.N. estimates that more than 1 million people had been displaced since the conflict escalated in early March.
Damage to civilian infrastructure has widened alongside the attacks. On April 16, Reuters reported that an Israeli strike severed the last bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country, potentially complicating evacuation, aid deliveries and medical access.
A longer pattern around Mayfadoun
The latest strike fits a longer pattern in the same region. In August 2024, Reuters reported that an Israeli strike in Mayfadoun killed four people, underscoring that the village had already been pulled into repeated cross-border hostilities well before the latest attack.
By October 2024, the U.N. human rights office said more than 100 medics and emergency workers had been killed in Lebanon, according to Reuters, reinforcing concerns that pressure on rescue crews and health facilities has been building for months, not days.
The attack in Mayfadoun adds to evidence that rescue workers, health facilities and basic civilian access routes remain under intense pressure as diplomacy struggles to contain the fighting in southern Lebanon.
