Three hospitals in southern Lebanon have been struck by Israeli military operations in under a week, resulting in nine deaths and more than 150 injuries, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health. The latest incident occurred near the public hospital in Tebnine on Tuesday, following earlier attacks near the Hiram and Jab al Amel hospitals in Tyre.

The strike near Jab al Amel hospital on Monday caused significant devastation, killing four people—mostly medical staff—and injuring 127. Wael Mroueh, director of Jab al Amel, described the attack as sudden and catastrophic. The blast struck a building directly opposite the hospital, collapsing it and causing a power outage within the facility. It also severely damaged the hospital’s first floor and the intensive care unit, forcing staff to evacuate critically ill patients connected to life-support machines.

Mroueh said he was unprepared for the scale and intensity of the strike. “I never expected something like this to happen … a huge strike like this, in this way. We didn’t expect it,” he stated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the attacks, emphasizing that they have severely limited access to essential medical services in the area, which were already under critical strain. Abdinasir Abubakar, the WHO’s representative in Lebanon, urged an immediate halt to such strikes. The hospitals targeted are among the few remaining operational healthcare centers in southern Lebanon. Another large hospital in Tyre, although undamaged, has been overwhelmed with patients displaced from surrounding villages and those injured in ongoing hostilities.

Since the onset of recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah on March 2, at least 130 medical personnel have died and 162 ambulances and healthcare facilities have been hit, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reports. In a strike on an ambulance on Tuesday, two emergency responders were killed and a third was critically injured.

The Israeli military stated that it targeted “Hezbollah infrastructure in the area of Tyre” and acknowledged that one hospital was “affected incidentally” but denied it was a deliberate target. Israel further accused Hezbollah of using one of the hospitals in Tebnine to treat wounded fighters. The Lebanese Ministry of Health called this claim a “fabrication” and condemned it as part of a growing pattern of Israeli attacks on health institutions. The International Committee of the Red Cross, Lebanese Red Cross, and Lebanese Army all maintain a medical presence at the Tebnine hospital.

Human rights groups and analysts argue these strikes on healthcare facilities are intended to degrade living conditions in southern Lebanon. They note that targeting medical facilities and personnel constitutes a violation of international law and may be classified as war crimes.