On the late evening of Friday, March 13, 2026, an Israeli airstrike reportedly hit a primary health care center in Burj Qalawiya in the Bint Jbeil district in the southern Lebanon. At least twelve civilians, all healthworkers, including a doctor, Hisham Ismail and a paramedic, Muhammad Hussein Maatouk, were reportedly killed, and at least one civilian was reported injured. The Director of the Imam Khomeini Cultural Center, Sheikh Ali Salloum, was also killed. For reasons outlined below, he has been recorded as a militant. Airwars did not find any information on the identities of the other victims of this airstrike among open sources.

In the hours after the strike, Al Jazeera, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, An-Nahar, Quds News Network and other news outlets reported “extensive destruction after the [Israeli] forces bombed an ambulance center belonging to the Islamic Health Authority in the town of Burj Qalawiya in southern Lebanon last night, resulting in the martyrdom of 12 people, including a doctor, paramedics and nurses.” Rita Al Jamal and @Inkliminfocom on X even indicated the total number of people killed by the attack may be more than 12. The National News Agency reported that “a number of people were wounded”, and Al Quds Newspaper reported that nine were injured in the strike. Many of the sources shared photos of the heavily damaged building with destroyed walls, collapsed rooms, and rubble. Many of the photos and videos also showed emergency response workers arriving at the scene.

The primary healthcare center in Al Qalawiya is run by the Islamic Health Authority, a civil defense group associated with Hezbollah. While Hezbollah operates an active militant wing, their political presence is also deeply enmeshed within the state, providing social and organisational services, primarily in the Shia’a majority areas in Southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and the suburbs of Beirut. With this context in mind, and as there was no evidence that those killed were members of militant groups, they have been classified as civilians. This assessment will be updated if additional information emerges regarding any of the victims.

The official ‘Primary Healthcare Lebanon’ account on Facebook posted that “the Ministry of Public Health mourns the healthcare workers in Burj Qalawiya…. who were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the primary healthcare center in the town. Twelve doctors, paramedics, and nurses on duty at the center were killed, and one healthcare worker was injured. This is still the initial toll as rescue operations continue to search for missing persons….The Ministry condemns this attack on one of its centers…It reiterates its condemnation of the ongoing violence against healthcare workers, which violates all international humanitarian laws.”

On the evening of the alleged attack, Wadi News reported (via Facebook) “the death of the doctor of the poor, Dr. Hisham Ismail, in the targeting of the health center in Burj Qalawiya today.” Dr. Hisham Ismail was described as a“humanitarian doctor” by Sour News Network, and both outlets shared photos of Hisham in his official blue doctors uniform, with his stethoscope around his neck, looking at the camera and appearing to be standing in his place of work. The Islamic Health Authority – South First announced on Facebook that “we have lost a brilliant doctor, and heaven has gained a pure soul” and posted a charming picture of Hisham wearing his white coat and a stethoscope around his neck while standing in a beautiful field of white flowers.

@The Toul – South Lebanon Facebook account mourned the death of Muhammad Hussein Maatouk, calling him a “martyr of humanity.” The account also posted a photo of Mohammad dressed in his yellow emergency response jacket, which was emblazoned with the logo of the Islamic Health Authority (IHA) Civil Defense.

Ali Salloum, the Director of the Imam Khomeini Cultural Center, was also among those killed. A Facebook post shared by Fatima A. Jaaran included a close-up image of Salloum in which he wears a predominantly black keffiyeh around his neck, and is photographed against a green background. The backdrop, dress, and zoom of the photo matches ‘martyr’ photos frequently shared by Hezbollah to commemorate members of the group who were associated with militant activities. Additionally, Majdal Selem remembered Salloum as someone who “combined the pursuit of knowledge with the spirit of jihad.” While ‘jihad’ is not definitive in determining whether someone may have been a militant rather than a civilian, these two sources together have been taken to understand Salloum as having been affiliated with militant activity, and he has been recorded as such. This will be updated should additional information become available.

In a moving Facebook post, Ahmad Hariri described the painful experience of searching “through the dust…for the last body still buried beneath the weight of the destruction” in the aftermath of the attack on the Burj Qalawiya health center. He wrote that “hands dug slowly through the stones, as if afraid of harming what little remained of humanity. Suddenly… a small, weak, but clear sound pierced the silence: the ringing of a phone…I reached my hand among the stones and dirt… until I touched a phone trapped under a piece of cement…When I looked at it… I saw the name ringing on the screen: Mother… and a special ringtone, “My Loving Mother.”At that moment, the phone was no longer just a phone. It became a heart beating beneath the rubble…At that moment, I felt that the rubble wasn’t just hiding a single body… but the story of a mother who would forever wait for a voice that would never return.”

Where sources identified a belligerent, all attributed the alleged strike to the Israeli military.

Given the number of sources reporting on the strike and the confirmed loss of life, Airwars has assessed the strike’s status as likely, with civilian harm status classified as fair.