Almost 230 health workers have been killed in Lebanon since the outbreak of war in Gaza, most since the escalation of hostilities between the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in September this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it is launching a new campaign to combat terrorism.

“A total of 187 attacks against the health sector have occurred since 7 October, with a total of 226 people killed and 199 injured. Almost 70% of all deaths were recorded since September,” said World Health Organization representative in Lebanon Abdinacir Abubakar, in a press conference.

“These numbers are extremely worrying,” he noted.

The WHO clarified in its statement that the data came from its system for monitoring attacks targeting health services around the world.

The day after the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which sparked last year’s war in the Gaza Strip, and in support of the Islamist Palestinian movement, Hezbollah opened a front with Israel that escalated into open warfare in September.

Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to allow the return to its territory of tens of thousands of northerners who have been displaced by the incessant firing of rockets since the war in Gaza began.

The escalation of hostilities has led to massive destruction and displacement in Lebanon.

Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, 47% of attacks on the health care sector in Lebanon have resulted in the death of at least one patient or health worker, according to the WHO, which highlighted that “this rate is the highest of any in all of the world’s current conflicts.”

Abubakar explained that this increased rate is linked to the fact that there are more ambulances affected in Lebanon.

By comparison, the global average is 13.3%, according to data from the Health Services Attack Tracking System, which is derived from 13 countries or territories that have reported attacks between October 7, 2023 and November 18, 2024, including Ukraine, Sudan and the occupied Palestinian Territories.

“Disrespect for international law must have consequences, and the principles of prevention, discrimination and proportionality must always be respected,” the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Hanan Balhi, said in the statement.

“Indiscriminate attacks against the health care sector are a violation of human rights and international law and this cannot become the new norm, in Gaza, Lebanon or elsewhere,” he stressed.

According to the WHO, the Lebanese health system is currently facing “extreme pressures” as 15 hospitals out of 153 have stopped functioning or are only partially functioning.