Our team is responding to an influx of patients of all ages, including paramedics wounded during rescue missions. People are arriving with severe head injuries, heavy bleeding, shrapnel injuries and in need of amputations, while others are suspected to be trapped under rubble as bombardment continues.

Just yesterday, 18 June, our teams witnessed people returning to their towns in Nabatiyeh governorate and searching through the rubble of their destroyed homes. They had gone back in the hopes that it might finally be safe. Instead, many are now once again trapped under bombardment.

Meanwhile, some search-and-rescue and ambulance teams MSF supports and works closely with are unable to reach some of the wounded or evacuate some of the civilians because moving through the area is simply too dangerous, and because responders have repeatedly been put at risk of coming under Israeli fire while doing their job.

The ongoing situation in Nabatiyeh is devastating. What our teams are describing resembles a death trap. People are caught under heavy shelling, while rescue teams are unable to safely reach them. Civilians and first responders must be protected, and unhindered access for rescue teams is urgently needed.”