Israel’s intensified attacks on Lebanon are placing severe pressure on the country’s healthcare system, with experts warning of a growing humanitarian crisis and forced displacement.
In the past month, 53 medical workers have been killed, 87 ambulances or medical centres destroyed, and five hospitals forced to close, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
“Israeli strikes and blanket evacuation orders are cutting people off from care and shrinking the space for health services to function,” said Doctors Without Borders Lebanon medical coordinator Luna Hammad.
The escalation followed renewed fighting on 2 March, triggering mass displacement and a widening Israeli offensive across southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs. Around 1.2 million people have been forced from their homes.
Health facilities have been directly targeted, with repeated strikes on hospitals including Jabal Amel University Hospital in Tyre. The World Health Organization said attacks and displacement of healthcare workers are eroding the sector’s capacity.
“We have seen some health facilities directly attacked,” said WHO representative in Lebanon Dr Abdinasir Abubakar.
Medical professionals say the destruction is contributing to displacement by making basic care inaccessible.
“You can’t live somewhere that doesn’t have basic medical care… you now have over a million extra people who are going to need the health system,” said a doctor treating displaced people in Beirut.
Emergency admissions have surged, while attacks on paramedics continue. On 28 March alone, nine paramedics were killed and seven wounded in multiple strikes, according to WHO.
Human Rights Watch has documented “repeated, apparently deliberate, attacks on medical workers in Lebanon,” raising concerns of potential war crimes.
“These hospitals are no longer consistently treated as protected spaces,” said researcher Omar Dewachi.
Experts warn the pattern is unlikely to stop without accountability.
“There’s been continued impunity for such acts and no accountability whatsoever,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss.
Health officials have called for urgent international support and a ceasefire to prevent further collapse of Lebanon’s healthcare system.
