Lebanese civilians increasingly become victims of escalating Israel-Hezbollah conflict

Israeli forces kept up their punishing attacks across southern Lebanon and in the capital Beirut. Civilians have increasingly become victims of this escalating conflict, and now, medical workers are under fire. As special correspondent Leila Molana Allen reports, the strikes in Beirut have left residents of a weary city feeling nowhere is safe.
Amna Nawaz:
Now to the widening conflict in the Middle East.
Israel tonight says it targeted a Hamas commander in the West Bank, killing at least 14 people. Airstrikes are rarely used by Israel in the West Bank. Israeli forces today also kept up their punishing attacks across Southern Lebanon and in the capital city of Beirut, where tonight Israel reportedly targeted the successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader killed last Friday.
More broadly, hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, have now been killed in Lebanon.
As special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen reports from Beirut, residents now feel that nowhere is safe.
Leila Molana-Allen:
Among the things this war has taken from Lebanon’s people, the ability to sleep, each night now across the country, an anxious wait for the next airstrike to fall, weighing whether to open windows so they won’t smash from the pressure of a nearby explosion or shut them to stop the noxious black fumes getting in.
Last night, Beirut’s residents didn’t have to wait long, just shy of midnight, a low swoosh and three hollow bangs, then fire. One strike hit further inside the capital than any so far.
Israel says it’s attacking military targets, but this building behind me struck last night is a medical center, a depot for civil defense first responders. And we’re not in a Hezbollah-run area. We’re less than half-a-mile from the Lebanese Parliament and multiple Western embassies in the very heart of Beirut.
Ali, a civil defense volunteer for the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority, was working inside the medical unit here when the missile hit.
Ali, Paramedic, Islamic Health Authority (through interpreter):
It was terrifying. I ran to check on my friends. I found one injured, but the rest of them were dead under the rubble. Everything around them was on fire.
Leila Molana-Allen:
Seven paramedics and volunteers were killed, and one remains in critical condition.
Ali (through interpreter):
If Israel is targeting paramedics, then they will also target shelters, hospitals and innocent civilians.
Leila Molana-Allen:
Israel’s government insists its fight is with Hezbollah militants, not the Lebanese people.
Today, it’s said it struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters and the group’s media office was hit too. On the border, the IDF said soldiers conducted armed raids on Hezbollah infrastructure. But Hezbollah is not only a military organization. It’s part of Lebanon’s governing framework. It runs hospitals, social services and schools.
The group’s civil defense volunteers serve all Lebanese. And, in this emergency situation, rescue and medical workers are more vital than ever. It’s not the first time medical personnel have been targeted in this conflict. And, today, the Lebanese Red Cross said four of their staff were also wounded.
Medical facilities and personnel are protected under international law. Intentionally attacking them is a war crime. The IDF hasn’t yet said why they struck the facility. But as more and more residential and civilian buildings are targeted here, locals fear the rules of war are being left in the dust.
Lebanon’s health minister said today nearly 100 medics have been killed in two weeks, a quarter of them in just the past 24 hours.
Dr. Firas Abiad, Lebanese Public Health Minister (through interpreter):
Who gave Israel the right to be both judge and executioner at the same time?
Leila Molana-Allen:
Left to cope with the chaos as foreigners board evacuation flights and their politicians bicker. Everyday volunteers like the civil defense, Lebanese Red Cross and grassroots charities are trying to keep the country afloat.
The Lebanese Red Cross runs the country’s volunteer ambulance service, as well as its national blood bank. Since the attacks began, they have been overwhelmed with demand from hospitals and their stocks have run dry.
Sally, a 28-year-old university lecturer from Beirut, responded to a desperate call out for donations.
Sally El Charbaji, Blood Donor:
I decided to come because the — this is the minimum we can do.
Leila Molana-Allen:
Sally says the stress and fear of the last few weeks have become unbearable, feeling powerless as she watches her countrymen displaced, injured and killed.
Sally El Charbaji:
We’re always — we’re sometimes feeling guilty just because we survived. No words can actually express how it’s making us feel. We go to work, we don’t know if we will go back home, at work, always checking the news to see if they are bombing our parents’ house or not, to check if our love one is safe. Our one and only goal now is to survive.
Leila Molana-Allen:
Beset by tragedy after tragedy, Lebanon’s people are famous for their survival instinct. But an increasingly brutal conflict in this country already on its knees could be its undoing.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Leila Molana-Allen in Beirut.