Lebanon’s healthcare system is itself a victim of war, under attack by Israel. The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that there were 23 attacks on healthcare in the past month, resulting in 72 deaths.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health recorded “55 enemy attacks on hospitals and 201 attacks on emergency medical technicians.” The report said Israel’s attacks on health workers, facilities and institutions were “clear violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and the Geneva Conventions.”
In recent days we have reported on the site of an Israeli airstrike across the street from Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s largest public hospital in Beirut. Several residential buildings collapsed and 18 people were killed, four of them children. No warning was given.
The Israel Defense Forces told the BBC that it was “targeting Hezbollah, a terrorist organization that exploits ambulances and other medical infrastructure.” They refuse to target health workers.
To date, more than 30 employees in the burn department are still working every day. None of them have moved, but Beirut has a new normal: traffic jams during the day and bombs exploding at night. That’s taking a big toll.
“Frankly, it is very difficult to treat patients who have suffered trauma or burns from war,” says Dr. Sleiman. “There are no soldiers here. All victims are civilians. We have ladies, we have girls, we have babies. It’s not their job, it’s their war. We must become stronger as doctors. But we have hearts. “We have a child.”
Before leaving, I asked Ivana’s father if he had anything to say to the people responsible for maiming his young daughter. He thought for a moment and then answered in a thoughtful, weary voice.
“I am not happy. Soldiers for military people, not civilians. “They’re children, they’re babies,” he said, referring to Ivana. “I’m not happy, but what can I do? “I don’t want to be a murderer like them,” he said.
