By Sriparna Roy and Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 28 on-duty medics have been killed in the past 24 hours in Lebanon, where Israel has launched airstrikes and sent troops to fight Hezbollah in an escalating conflict, the World Health Organization chief said on Thursday.
"Many (other) health workers are not reporting to duty and fled the areas where they work due to bombardments," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online press briefing, calling for stronger protections for health workers.
"This is severely limiting the provision of mass trauma management and continuity of health services," he said.
WHO's representative in Lebanon Dr Abdinasir Abubakar told the briefing that all of the healthcare workers killed in the past day had been on duty, helping with the wounded.
A total of nearly 2,000 people have been killed, including 127 children, and 9,384 injured since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the last year, the country's health ministry said. The WHO said this included 73 healthcare workers.
"Hospitals have been already evacuated. I think what I can say for now is the capacity for mass casualty management exists, but it's just a matter of time until the system actually reaches its limit," said the WHO's Abubakar.
The global health agency will not be able to deliver a large planned shipment of trauma and medical supplies to the country on Friday due to flight restrictions, Tedros said at the same briefing.
Rising tensions in the Middle East have led to air travel chaos, with global airlines diverting or cancelling flights and long delays reported at regional airports.
The WHO's Abubakar said the WHO was negotiating with countries to facilitate the delivery of the emergency supplies into Lebanon and exploring other options by sea or road.