A surgeon in Beirut has accused Israel of waging a “war on children” in Lebanon, drawing a comparison to how large numbers of young people have faced death and injury during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon at American University of Beirut Medical Center, who previously worked in Gaza, gave his account from the ground to CNN’s Michael Holmes on Saturday.
“We are seeing [a] similar pattern to what I was seeing in Gaza in October and November last year,” he said.
He said children were being wounded in their homes and in some cases seeing multiple family members killed.
According to UNICEF, more than 690 children in Lebanon have been injured in the past six weeks and at least 100 killed over the past 11 days as Israel has ramped up strikes against Hezbollah.
Israel says it takes steps to minimize civilian harm, such as making phone calls and sending text messages to residents in buildings designated for attack. Human rights groups like Amnesty International say such warnings do not absolve Israel of responsibilities under international humanitarian law to limit civilian harm.
Abu-Sittah, who serves as director of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Department at the prestigious American University hospital, also spoke of the similarities between the injuries inflicted by the two Israeli offensives in Gaza and Lebanon.
More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and more than 96,006 injured since Israel launched its war on Hamas following the group’s October 7 attack, according to the Gaza health ministry. The health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its figures but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel earlier this year said it had killed more than 17,000 combatants in Gaza since the start of the war. CNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s numbers.