Shafaq News/ On Friday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health announced that over 160 people working in the health and ambulance sectors had been killed by Israeli raids, during a year of escalation between Hezbollah and Israel.

“The total number of health martyrs has reached 163, with 272 wounded so far,” Lebanese Public Health Minister Firas Al-Abyad said during a press conference in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

Al-Abyad referred to Israeli attacks on 55 hospitals, 36 of which were directly targeted, resulting in the forced closure of eight ones, affirming that the Ministry of Public Health had documented Israel's targeting of “158 ambulances, 57 fire trucks, and 15 rescue vehicles."

The Minister further declared, “Six firefighters’ bodies remain under the rubble since Israel targeted one of their headquarters in the southern Lebanese town of Braashit earlier this month, in addition to eight paramedics inside three ambulances targeted by Israel two weeks ago near the border town of al-Adaysa,”

“The Israeli enemy has so far refused to allow us to retrieve the bodies of the martyrs… We consider the attacks on the health and hospital sector to be direct and deliberate. This is a war crime,” he said, denouncing Israeli claims.

On Thursday, the spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, accused Hezbollah of "using ambulances to transport operatives and weapons" in southern Lebanon. He urged medical teams to "avoid engaging with Hezbollah members," warning that "necessary measures will be taken against any vehicle transporting armed individuals, regardless of its type."

Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Lebanon since September 23, targeting what it claims are infrastructure and facilities belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, eastern Lebanon, and the southern suburbs of Beirut. Since October 7, when the Lebanese party opened a “support front” for the Gaza Strip, more than 2,550 persons have been killed, and over 12,000 injured, including women and children, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

On the other side, Hezbollah responds to Israeli attacks with rockets and drones, inflicting material and human losses, as it announced killing over 70 Israeli soldiers and destroying dozens of tanks.