Ambulance Struck: Hezbollah Medics Targeted in Israeli Offensive

An Israeli strike on an ambulance in southern Lebanon killed one medic from Hezbollah's rescue force and injured another. The attack happened in Naqoura town and adds to rising casualties in Israel's ongoing conflict with Gaza and Hezbollah. The overall death toll of emergency staff since October has reached seven.

At least one medic from a rescue force affiliated with Hezbollah was killed and another wounded in an Israeli strike on an ambulance in southern Lebanon on Friday, a Lebanese security source and a source from the rescue force said. The strike, which hit an ambulance belonging to Hayaa Sahiya Islamiya (Islamic Health Commission), happened in the town of Naqoura, the two sources told Reuters.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment. In March, Lebanon's health ministry confirmed three rescue workers were killed by Israeli strikes, saying it brought the number of emergency staff and paramedics killed since October to seven.

The eighth fatality comes as Israel's ongoing military offensive in Gaza enters its eighth month. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Islamist group, and Israel have been trading fire in parallel to the war in Gaza, which has marked the worst conflict across Lebanon's southern border since 2006, fuelling fears of a bigger confrontation.