The Lebanese Executive has denounced this Friday that a public hospital located in the governorate of Nabatiyé, in the south of the country, has been set on fire in an attack described as "brutal and outrageous" by the Israeli Army, despite the ceasefire currently in effect.
The affected center is the Meis al Yabal hospital, in a locality situated on the Blue Line that separates both countries and that, since its opening in 2002, has provided healthcare to the Marjayún district.
In a statement released by the official agency NNA, the Ministry of Health condemned a "barbaric crime committed by the Israeli enemy by setting fire to" this hospital and described what happened as a "flagrant, brutal, and outrageous attack."
The department emphasized that it had been working for some time to "restore and rehabilitate" the center after the initial clashes between Israel and the Shiite militia party Hezbollah, including its provision of equipment "to serve as a lifeline and safe refuge to care for our displaced population and those resisting in the border areas."
In this regard, it denounced that the Meis al Yabal hospital "is being subjected to systematic destruction that reflects moral bankruptcy and intrinsic criminality" by Israel, which it reproaches for "not being satisfied with having occupied it and turned it into a military barracks, but today proceeded to set it completely on fire, thus depriving the population of the south of their most basic human right to hospitalization and medical care."
The Ministry has reminded that "attacking medical institutions and healthcare personnel constitutes a war crime in every sense and a flagrant violation of International Law," and has urged the international community to "immediately break their suspicious silence and hold the occupation accountable for its repeated crimes against the Lebanese healthcare sector."
At the same time, it has assured that "these criminal acts will not bend the will to resist, and the Ministry will continue to fulfill its national and humanitarian duty and support our people in the south with all available means, regardless of the sacrifices."
Israel maintains its military operations against its northern neighbor despite the preliminary agreement reached on June 26 with the mediation of the United States, which established the foundations for a permanent ceasefire and contemplated the restoration of Lebanese sovereignty in the south of the country, as well as the disarmament of Hezbollah, a point outright rejected by the Shiite group.
Since that date, Israeli authorities have invoked security reasons and Hezbollah's refusal to accept the pact to justify the continuation of their military actions in southern Lebanon, within the framework of the new invasion initiated after the group launched projectiles against Israeli territory in response to the joint offensive undertaken on February 28 by the United States and Israel against Iran.