JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
As Israel's war in Lebanon intensifies, many hospitals and emergency first responders worry they won't be spared from Israel's airstrikes. In southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, one hospital evacuated all its patients yesterday after Israel accused it of sitting on top of a hidden Hezbollah bunker full of millions in gold and cash. The hospital denies the allegation and invited foreign journalists to come and take a look for themselves today. NPR's Arezou Rezvani was there, and she joins us now. Hey, Arezou.
AREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
SUMMERS: Just tell us, what'd you see on this tour?
REZVANI: Al Sahel Hospital was completely deserted. Empty gurneys lined the emergency entrance. The surgery rooms were abandoned. An incubator sat idle in one corner. And patients have been transferred to other hospitals across Beirut. Journalists were invited to walk through different wings of the hospital, including all underground levels. And the point of this was to let media root around and see if anything tracked with Israel's allegations.
SUMMERS: What did doctors there tell you about this allegation about a secret Hezbollah bunker?
REZVANI: They reject it completely. I spoke with Omar Mneimne (ph), an emergency medicine physician. And what he told me is really what I heard repeatedly from other medical staff there.
OMAR MNEIMNE: There's no such thing as what they're claiming. This is a hospital that was founded in the '80s and has been providing service to the community who are of low to medium socioeconomic status for years. So this isn't a gold mine here.
REZVANI: I asked if maybe it was built deep underground, unbeknownst to them, and they rejected that idea too. I think the fear is that a similar allegation was made against a hospital in Gaza last year, which Israeli military said was a Hamas command center. And eventually, it was attacked and devastated. So this hospital is really pushing back on the idea that Hezbollah is using it in any way.
SUMMERS: And what has Israel's response been?
REZVANI: Well, about half an hour into the tour, Israel's military released information addressed directly to visiting journalists alleging that the entrance to the bunker is actually in buildings next door and that tunnels from those buildings lead to the hidden bunker underneath the hospital. We asked Al Sahel's director, Dr. Fadi Alameh about it. He told NPR buildings have - those buildings have no connection to the hospital at all.
SUMMERS: Do we know how much danger medical facilities and staff are in over there?
REZVANI: Well, ever since fighting broke out between Israel and Hezbollah last year, more than 100 medical workers have been killed in Lebanon, according to the U.N. Clinics, ambulances, rescue teams have all been caught in Israel's line of fire. After I visited Al Sahel, I went to the site of an airstrike that blew out the windows of another hospital. Rescue teams were digging through the rubble, looking for survivors. And one of the rescuers there, Jawad, who'd only give his first name - here's how he describes the moment.
JAWAD: This is a crazy war. Israel is killing everything and everyone. As there are people burning alive in Gaza, they are trying to do the same thing here.
REZVANI: Israel's military rejects that idea, that they're indiscriminately killing people. But with almost 2,500 killed since the start...
SUMMERS: Right.
REZVANI: ...Of the war a few weeks ago, people here just don't see it that way.
SUMMERS: NPR's Arezou Rezvani, thank you.
REZVANI: Thank you.
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