As search teams combed the ruins of residential buildings across from Rafik Hariri University Hospital just south of Lebanon’s capital, locals listened for signs of their loved ones in the wreckage.
At least 18 people, including four children, were killed in the strike, and 60 others were wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. The attack, which was not preceded by an evacuation notice from the Israeli military, also damaged the nearby hospital, which in recent weeks has been swamped by patients evacuated from other health facilities.
The Israeli military said that it had not targeted the hospital, and had instead aimed at a “Hezbollah terror target” in the area. The military said that the hospital had not been affected, but damage was seen during a visit to the facility by a Times reporter and photographer on Tuesday.
The powerful blast had shattered the hospital’s windows and the solar panels affixed atop the building, a lifeline amid Lebanon’s chronic power shortages. Rows of sand bags now lined the underground parking lot as hospital workers made preparations for further strikes. Many of them were in an uproar, saying they did not have the staff numbers and supplies they needed.
Isreal can’t refuse access to the press in Lebanon like they do in Palestine, so the lies are easier to pierce.
Oh they’re just waiting to figure how long it takes the press to arrive. And then they’ll do a second strike.
Oops, just a little war crime.
