Amnesty says Israeli attacks on Lebanon health sector should be probed as war crimes

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) : Amnesty International said on Wednesday that Israel’s attacks on ambulances, paramedics and health facilities during its recent war with Hezbollah should be investigated as war crimes.

A November 27 truce agreement largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of all-out war during which Israel sent in ground troops.

During the conflict, the Israeli military accused the Iran-backed group of using ambulances belonging to the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee for transporting fighters and weapons, accusations the group denied.

According to Amnesty, “the Israeli military’s repeated unlawful attacks during the war in Lebanon on health facilities, ambulances and health workers, which are protected under international law, must be investigated as war crimes.”

It urged the Lebanese government to provide the International Criminal Court with “jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the Rome Statute committed on Lebanese territory, and ensure victims’ right to remedy.”

In December, Lebanon’s then health minister Firass Abiad said that during the hostilities, there were “67 attacks on hospitals, including 40 hospitals that were directly targeted,” killing 16 people.

“There were 238 attacks on emergency response organizations, with 206 dead,” he said, adding that 256 emergency vehicles including fire trucks and ambulances were also “targeted.”

Amnesty said it investigated four Israeli attacks on health facilities and vehicles in Beirut and south Lebanon from October 3 to 9 last year that killed 19 health care workers, wounded 11 others and “damaged or destroyed multiple ambulances and two medical facilities.”

“Amnesty International did not find evidence that the facilities or vehicles were being used for military purposes at the time of the attacks,” the statement said.

The rights group said it wrote to the Israeli military in November with its findings but had not received a response by the time of publication.

“The Israeli military has not provided sufficient justifications, or specific evidence of military targets being present at the strike locations” to account for the “repeated attacks, which weakened a fragile health care system and put lives at risk,” Amnesty added.

According to Lebanese authorities, more than 4,000 people were killed in more than the year of hostilities.

Swathes of the south and east and parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs were heavily damaged in the Israeli bombardment, with reconstruction costs expected to top $10 billion, Lebanese authorities have said.