Three Lebanese hospitals hit by Israeli forces in under a week

A hospital room damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon. The World Health Organization has called for the attacks to stop. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A hospital room damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, southern Lebanon. The World Health Organization has called for the attacks to stop. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Three Lebanese hospitals hit by Israeli forces in under a week Airstrikes in south of country kill nine people and wound another 150, most of them medical staff Middle East crisis – live updates Three hospitals in southern Lebanon have been attacked by Israel in under a week, wounding more than 150 people and killing nine, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health. Israel carried out an attack in the immediate vicinity of the public hospital in Tebnine on Wednesday, just days after strikes next to the Hiram and Jabal Amel hospitals in Tyre. The attack next to Jabal Amel on Monday killed four people and injured 127 – most of whom were medical staff. “It was an ordinary day at the hospital and then suddenly for no reason, they targeted the hospital. It was a catastrophe,” said Wael Mroueh, the director of Jabal Amel. The strike hit the building directly in front of the hospital, levelling it. View image in fullscreen An Israeli airstrike flattened a building outside Jabal Amel hospital in Tyre, causing serious damage to its medical facilities. Photograph: Adri Salido/Getty Images The force of the blast knocked out the hospital’s electricity, destroyed much of the first floor and forced medical staff to evacuate patients who were hooked up to machines in the intensive care unit, which was also damaged. Mroueh said: “I never expected something like this to happen. We prepared ourselves psychologically that maybe some of our medical staff could be targeted, but a huge strike like this, in this way. We didn’t expect it.” The World Health Organization said the attacks deprived the most vulnerable patients of medical care. Access to essential services was already “critically constrained”, said the UN agency’s representative in Lebanon, Abdinasir Abubakar, who called for the attacks to stop The hospitals are among the few remaining functional healthcare facilities in south Lebanon, an area which has been subject to mass displacement. The third hospital in Tyre had escaped damage but was overwhelmed and dealing with an influx of injured patients, according to Abubakar. View image in fullscreen A waiting room at the Jabal Amel hospital was damaged in an airstrike that took four lives. Photograph: Marwan Naamani/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock Tyre, one of the largest cities in south Lebanon, is hosting displaced people from surrounding villages, many of whom have limited access to medical care. At least 130 medical workers have been killed by Israel and 162 ambulances and healthcare facilities have been struck since the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel started on 2 March, according to the Lebanese