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A sobbing Mohamed Suleiman buried his 16-year-old son while wearing his paramedic uniform, emblazoned with the badge of the Ambulance Team of Nabatieh, on Wednesday. An hour later, heartbroken, he returned to work.
A day earlier, the same uniform and helmet had not protected his son, Joud Suleiman, from being the target of an Israeli drone attack alongside his colleague Ali Jaber, 23. Both young paramedics were on their way to distribute food aid to families remaining in Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon, riding together on the same motorcycle. They were killed instantly.
In addition to the clearly marked uniforms, the motorcycle was equipped with emergency lights and prominently displayed the Ambulance Team’s flag and logo, according to several witnesses who became the first responders to the strike.
“It was his dream to be a paramedic,” Mr Suleiman said of his teenage son. Joud had refused to leave Nabatieh for somewhere safer, insisting on staying in his city and volunteering for the Ambulance Team. “He wanted to stay and help people in need. He did what he needed to do.”
It took all of Mr Suleiman’s strength to speak those few sentences about his son to the media before he collapsed tearfully into the arms of another paramedic. “We’re proud of him. He was a hero.”
Dozens of rescue workers from the Red Cross, Lebanese Civil Defence, and other emergency teams gathered at the funeral to pay their respects.
A short distance away, the destroyed motorcycle was still on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding its charred skeleton.
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defence were the first to arrive at the scene after the attack on the motorcycle, according to Hussein Faqih, who heads the organisation in Nabatieh and was among the first on the scene. He said the victims were clearly identified as first responders, corroborating the Nabatieh Ambulance Team’s account. “We found them in pieces,” said Mr Fakih.
Joud Suleiman and Ali Jaber are among 42 medical staff killed by Israel since the war in Lebanon resumed on March 2. Lebanon’s Health Ministry condemned the killing as part of a “continuing targeting of first responders,” while human rights groups have denounced repeated attacks on healthcare workers and paramedics as “apparent war crimes”.
Israel has not shied away from attacking rescue workers and other civilians – including entire families – in a bid to empty the region as it pursues its invasion of south Lebanon in an attempt to establish what it calls a “buffer zone” between itself and Hezbollah.
Israel has not explained why it killed the two clearly identified rescuers. The killing of the two young rescuers was not a mistake but part of a “pattern” linked to dozens of other incidents in Gaza and Lebanon, according to Madhi Sadek, who heads the Nabatieh Ambulance Team.
“Coincidences do not repeat,” he told The National, dismissing the notion that the Israeli army could have attacked the ambulance team unintentionally. The Nabatieh Ambulance team had been operating on the ground “since the beginning of the war and clearly indicated the civilian nature of our movements”.
“They’re not deterred from targeting civilians. They have no problem striking without verification. Honestly, this is what we see happening,” he added.
Mr Faqih of the Civil Defence said the organisation's teams are “routinely targeted, either directly on our vehicle, or near our centre”.
'No one working as a rescuer is safe'
After the funeral, paramedics from the Ambulance Team gathered at their headquarters, where they’ve lived together for 25 days of war – rescuing people trapped in wrecked homes and providing humanitarian aid under Israeli bombing. None of them have left.
“They were my friends,” paramedic Hamza Abdallah, 33, said. He, too, was close to tears as he spoke of his colleagues. “Of course, it’s not easy on us. But it's our duty to rescue innocent people, and we will not leave.”
He, like other rescuers, knows they could be killed at any time doing their job, which, he believes, makes them targets as Israel expands its campaign to take south Lebanon. “There are no more limits,” he said.
To mitigate risks, first responders have been adhering to specific war protocols. This includes waiting before moving after a strike, to avoid being hit by a “double tap” attack. The strategy, widely used by Israel in Gaza and denounced by rights groups as a breach of human rights law, involves striking a site a second time straight after first responders arrive.
Hussein Jaber, a fireman stationed in Nabatieh, said such attacks had already killed several Lebanese Civil Defence members during the 2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah. He mentioned other precautions, including smaller teams and quick deployments.
But such measures remain limited. “Other than that, there is no way to protect yourself. You are forced to respond and go see each strike, see the people, see their homes,” he added.
Last week, Mr Jaber and 15 other rescue workers from the Lebanese Civil Defence survived a house being destroyed in an Israeli raid less than 15 metres away from them. Mr Jaber said the house, which has been empty since the owners fled at the start of the war, was not a military target. He sees the attack, which injured 12 and forced the team to move to another centre, as a warning against the Civil Defence.
“Honestly, no one working in an ambulance or Civil Defence feels safe. There is no mercy from (Israel) - they don’t distinguish between civilians and military targets”. This did not deter Mr Suleiman from returning to his mission a day after Joud was killed.
“Today he arrived before we did, wearing his ambulance uniform,” said Mr Sadek, who heads the Ambulance Team. “He told us: ‘I will bury my son, entrust him to the soil of our country – then return to work’.”
