Beirut, March 14 (QNA) – The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that the casualty toll among the paramedics since March 2 until today has reached 26 fatalities and 51 injuries.

Since the start of its offensive on Lebanon, Israel has been heavily targeting paramedics while they conduct their rescue operations, alongside the Primary Healthcare Center in the town of Burj Qallawiya in southern Lebanon, the media office of the Lebanese Health Ministry highlighted in a statement.

The statement indicated that this center is part of the sprawling networks in various parts across Lebanon that operate in coordination with civil societies supervised by the Public Health Ministry, making this targeting unequivocal against a Lebanese civilian health facility.

This targeting overwhelmingly hit the entire medical operators in the center, who were physicians, paramedics, and nurses, and only one worker survived after he sustained critical injuries, with 12 fatalities, the statement read, indicating that the search is ongoing for four missing.

The statement stressed that the Israeli allegations of ambulance vehicles being used for military purposes are merely a justification for the crimes being perpetrated against humanity, flouting all international and humanitarian laws, as well as the Geneva Conventions, which state that medical personnel engaged in the search for, collection, and treatment of the wounded and sick shall be respected and protected in all circumstances, and that medical units and establishments must not be attacked. (QNA)