Israeli Airstrike Kills Six At Medical Centre In Central Beirut

Israeli airstrikes are still being reported across Beirut with the Lebanese Health Ministry saying at least six people have been killed in the process.

Reports also said that seven others were injured in an Israeli attack on a Health Centre in the central suburb of Bachoura. The Medical Centre belonged to the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Organisation.

The Ministry in a statement maintained that it is a war crime to target health workers in the ongoing conflict.

It is the second time central Beirut has been targeted since Israel began its bombing campaign a couple of weeks ago. The area is home to the Lebanese parliament and the UN’s regional headquarters.

Reports confirmed that an apartment building was damaged by an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s Bachoura neighbourhood in the early hours of Thursday with the number of casualties yet to be ascertained.

The southern district of Dahiyeh, which is where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week, has also been repeatedly targeted.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has issued warnings to people in several neighbourhoods but in some cases these are reportedly not coming in time for people to flee.

Israeli airstrikes have killed paramedics across Lebanon over the last two weeks, including airstrikes that killed 14 emergency health workers over the weekend.

On Monday, six more paramedics were killed in the west Bekaa, all of them belonging to the Islamic Health Organisation.

Smoke was seen rising from one of the sites of  Israeli airstrike that targeted southern Beirut in the early hours of Thursday with some health officials currently receiving urgent medical attention for injuries.

Israel has also been accused of targeting health workers in Gaza, including by killing them in airstrikes on hospitals and ambulances as well as arresting and torturing them.

However, the IDF has denied targeting medics and claims Hamas uses civilians as human shields.