Speaking from Beirut, where he witnessed Wednesday’s attacks firsthand, the World Health Organization (Who)’s representative in the country, Dr. Abdinasir Aboubakar, said that according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health Nearly 300 people were killed in the attacks – One of the highest number of deaths in a single day since the renewal of full-scale hostilities between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants on March 2. Another 1,150 were injured.
“In fact many more people are still missing,“They are believed to be under the debris,” Dr Abubakar told reporters in Geneva.
He said that many body parts are also waiting to be identified.
Threat to ambulance staff
United Nations Health Agency official also spoke On Friday morning a warning was received from Israel that “ambulances will also be attacked.”
He said Israel had been warning about “Hezbollah’s use of ambulances”.
WHO has stressed that healthcare should not be militarized, but misuse of health facilities or ambulances to attack them is not justified.
“Health workers, facilities, ambulances are all protected under international humanitarian law,The senior doctor said.
“Until we have these services available, we will not be able to save lives.”
WHO also received a warning on Thursday that Israeli evacuation orders had been expanded to the Jenneh area of Beirut, including “the two major hospitals that are managing the mass casualty (incident), Rafik Hariri and Al Zahra hospitals.”
The facilities are currently operating at full capacity. Dr. Abubakar stressed the impossibility of moving potentially 450 patients out of health facilities, about 50 of whom were in intensive care after being injured in Wednesday’s bombing.
withdrawal impossible
“We have decided not to evacuate because we have no other place to evacuate them, really,” He said.
The UN health agency official said that overnight “we received some responses saying that these hospitals will not be attacked… whether that will materialize or not, we will see.”
Amid a surge in emergency cases, the WHO official said the country did not have enough medical supplies to last a month even before Wednesday’s mass casualty incident.
The April 8 airstrikes came just hours after the announcement of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
According to media reports, enmity between Israel and Hezbollah continues. Iran said on Friday it would not take part in Saturday’s peace talks in Pakistan if the ceasefire is not extended to Lebanon..
Firefighters survey a scene of destruction in Beirut, Lebanon.
more turmoil
United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA)unhcr) Spokesman Eugene Byun said families who had already fled the hostilities in Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon – some of whom had begun considering return after mixed signals about a ceasefire – were now uprooted once again.
Areas previously considered safe were attacked on Wednesday, he said, causing panic and forcing people to flee for the second or third time.
Ms. Byun said the destruction of the Qasmiyeh Bridge, a major artery linking the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre, “has made movement between northern and southern Lebanon even more difficult.”
“For many families in southern villages, return is no longer possible because entire communities have been partially or completely destroyed,” he said.
The UNHCR spokesperson emphasized that some An estimated 150,000 people are still in the south and humanitarian access is essential.
“They need a safe route to escape if they are forced to flee again,” he stressed.
deteriorating food security
World Food Program (WFP)wfpAlison Oman, director of the ) in Lebanon, who was on a convoy to a border village in the south earlier this week, gave reporters an eyewitness account of the situation there.
“What I saw really stuck with me,” he said, describing a local bakery that “had its front glass destroyed an hour before we got there, and they were already cleaning glass and the ovens had already been lit as they waited for the wheat flour we were bringing in the convoy.”
“Their food reserves were very low, and it was clear that this convoy was much awaited… It was necessary to help them keep going,” He said.
Ms Oman warned that the situation was “rapidly becoming a food security crisis” as food prices rose across the country.
“In just one month, The price of vegetables has increased by more than 20 percent, the price of bread has increased by 17 percent…For families who are already struggling, this is extremely worrying,” he said, highlighting a “very worrying combination” where prices are rising, incomes are being disrupted and demand is rising.
The WFP official also stressed that in conflict-affected areas in southern Lebanon, More than 80 percent of markets are no longer functioning.
