Lebanon health minister visits hospital after deadly explosions in Hezbollah areas: Video
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad visited the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in Beirut on Wednesday, September 18, after a series of explosions from paging devices rocked Lebanon the previous day, leaving a deadly toll across Hezbollah strongholds.
The devices, reportedly used by members of the militant group, detonated on Tuesday, September 17, causing widespread injuries and fatalities.
Abiad commended the hospitals' quick response to the crisis, stating, "The hospitals did a great job yesterday. A lot of them, including this one, cancelled surgeries to provide care for the patients. The patients, as I see today, are receiving the best medical care."
Joel Khadrajit, an ER doctor at Hotel-Dieu, described the severity of the injuries: "The injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, which caused finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes—some people lost their sight."
She added that the hospital received 80 injured patients. "About twenty of them were admitted to the ICU immediately and were put on ventilators to prevent suffocation due to swelling in their faces. The rest are going one after the other to the operating room. Today, we have 55 surgeries."
The explosions overwhelmed hospitals in areas controlled by Hezbollah, with dozens of casualties reported. According to Health Minister Abiad, the death toll has reached at least a dozen, including children, while nearly 300 others remain critically injured.
In the aftermath of the explosions, Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, although Israel has yet to comment on the incident. Earlier, Israel had announced plans to expand its military objectives in its ongoing conflict with Hamas, as AFP reported.
