In brief
Lebanon's hospitals are struggling to operate or have been forced to close as airstrikes disrupt medical services in Beirut. The ongoing Israeli offensive against Hezbollah targets has intensified, with the UN reporting a widening scope of attacks on health facilities. St. Therese Hospital, located on the outskirts of Beirut and directed by Elie Hachem, exemplifies this crisis. After narrowly escaping a night-time airstrike, which landed just 80 yards from the hospital and caused significant structural damage, the institution was ordered to shut down. "The community needs us," Hachem stated, though safety concerns for staff and patients, including vulnerable premature infants, necessitated the closure. The World Health Organization reports at least nine hospitals in Lebanon have been rendered unusable because of the ongoing conflict, underscoring a humanitarian crisis in medical services across the region.
