Crowds carry the coffins of three Lebanese Civil Defense workers during their funeral the day after they were killed by Israel in Sour on April 30, in Sour, (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Health Minister Rakan Nasreddine said in Geneva on Tuesday, speaking before World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that Israel has killed 116 health workers in Lebanon since March 2.
He added that Israel injured 263 others, and caused "destruction or damage of a large number of ambulances, health centers, and hospitals."
Nasreddine also thanked the WHO for "its ongoing support to the Ministry of Public Health and the assistance it provides through numerous programs and projects that have made it possible to withstand the successive crises that have struck Lebanon since 2019." Lebanon’s health system has been severely strained since the country’s economic and financial collapse that year.
He was attending the 79th World Health Assembly, held in Geneva until Saturday. The meeting comes after a difficult year for the WHO, which has faced budget cuts and U.S. withdrawal under President Donald Trump.
