TYRE, Lebanon — The ambulance driver turned off his radio after the third strike. He could not bear to hear more rescue calls he could not answer.

Four Lebanese medics died Wednesday in consecutive Israeli attacks on emergency crews responding to civilian casualties in southern Lebanon. The strikes revealed a systematic pattern that rescue workers say has made their job impossible.

The kill sequence

Video obtained by The Associated Press captures the moment an Israeli strike hits the second ambulance team. The medic treating wounded colleagues screams as glass explodes around him. His camera shakes. Blood spreads across white uniforms.

First strike: two paramedics from Lebanon's Islamic Health Committee killed in Mayfadoun village. Second strike: three medics wounded while trying to reach their colleagues. Third strike: two more dead from Nabatiyeh Emergency Services and the Islamic Risala Scout Association.

Methodical.

"There are no more red lines in this war," said Abou Haidar Hayya, an Islamic Health Committee official who coordinated the failed rescue operation from Nabatiyeh.

The Israeli military said it was "looking into" the strikes. It has previously accused Hezbollah of using ambulances as militant cover, without providing evidence.

They keep going anyway

Hayya does not regret sending team after team into the kill zone. That is the job. Someone calls for help. You go.

"Ambulances are protected under all international laws and conventions," he said by phone from his health center, where wounded medics were being treated. "When those prohibitions collapse, we have nothing left."

Since Israel's war with Hezbollah began March 2, Israeli strikes have killed 91 Lebanese medical workers, according to the Health Ministry. Wednesday's deaths pushed Lebanon's overall toll to 2,167.

The targeting follows a pattern rescue workers recognize. Strike civilians. Wait for medics. Strike the medics. Wait for more medics. Strike again.

Bad timing for peace talks

The attacks came one day after Israeli and Lebanese officials held their first direct talks in Washington since the war began. Those discussions, mediated by Pakistan's foreign minister, focused on potential ceasefire terms.

But the medic killings suggest Israel is escalating rather than de-escalating. The strikes were not random fire or collateral damage. They were sequential, targeted operations against clearly marked emergency vehicles.

Most of the wounded medics remain in moderate condition except one hit in the chest by shrapnel, now in serious condition. The Islamic Health Committee said its teams will continue responding to calls despite the risks.

The Lebanese Health Ministry condemned the attacks as a "blatant violation" of international law. Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel and vehicles are protected during armed conflict.

What the video shows

Footage shows the second medic team wearing regulation uniforms and riding in marked emergency vehicles. They struggle to pull bloodied colleagues from wrecked ambulances that had veered off the road.

Two wounded medics lie on stretchers in the back of an ambulance when the Israeli strike hits. Windows blow out. Glass flies everywhere. The treating medic's scream cuts through the explosion sound.

Then a third team arrives to help. They are attacked too.

The video quality is poor — shot by rescue workers under fire, not professional cameramen. But it captures something television cannot: the moment emergency workers realize they have become targets, not just witnesses to war.

"We went into the line of fire because that's what we do," Hayya said. His voice carried the exhaustion of someone who has sent too many people to die.

The tactical question

Israeli military officials have not explained the tactical value of killing medics. The strikes did not hit weapons caches or militant leaders. They hit people trying to save lives.

The targeting suggests a broader strategy: make civilian life impossible by destroying the infrastructure that keeps people alive. No hospitals. No ambulances. No medics willing to respond.

Hezbollah has not retaliated specifically for the medic killings. The group typically reserves major responses for strikes on military commanders, not civilian workers.

But the medic attacks may signal Israel's calculation that the Washington talks will fail. You do not systematically target rescue workers if you expect to negotiate peace soon.

What comes next

The Lebanese Health Ministry is considering suspending emergency services in southern Lebanon. Too many medics have died. Too few remain to staff ambulances.

That would leave civilians with no medical response to Israeli strikes. No one to pull them from rubble. No one to stop bleeding. No one to drive them to hospitals.

The next round of Washington talks is scheduled for April 28. Pakistani mediators will present both sides with draft ceasefire terms.

Whether any medics will be alive to treat casualties when those talks conclude remains unclear.