Lebanon: why were rescuers affected?

Published on: April 21, 2026 at 21:22

Updated on: April 22, 2026 at 00:05

Reading Time: 5 minutes – Video: 6 minutes

Lebanon counts a heavy toll of the war between Israel and the Hezbollah movement: 2,454 deaths since March 2. Among the civilians killed, rescuers pay a heavy price.

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the above report. Click on the video to watch it in full.

The images filmed by one of the teams of France Televisions have gone around the world. A father discovers that his son, a rescuer, has just been killed. Here, the scooter on which Joud, 16, was riding with another rescuer, also killed by an Israeli drone. British and Canadian television as well as many social networks have taken up our report to tell this tragedy. We wanted to understand how this 16-year-old boy, photographed here with his father, was killed. With this grieving man, we return to the scene of the strike. It is a street in the heart of Nabatiyeh, a stronghold of pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

This father explains that his son is not a combatant, but a rescuer. “My son has never been involved in military or political activities. Never in his life. The Israelis always give us misleading explanations. They say we are helping to transport weapons. And you followed us on a mission. None of our vehicles, let alone scooters, transport weapons,” says Mohammad Sleiman, father of Joud Sleiman.

We spoke with the Israeli army to get its version of the facts. It confirms that yes, operations against terrorists were underway that day in this city and that if rescuers were killed, it regrets it and adds… “The strike did not target individuals identified as belonging to a medical team.”

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