Hospitals in northern Israel to move patients to underground bunker

Amid increased cross-border rocket attacks from Lebanon, hospitals in northern Israel have been instructed to move patients to shelters, according to media reports on Sunday.

Rambam Hospital in Haifa, the region's largest, announced it would begin relocating patients to its underground emergency facility at midday, following army directives.

Rambam's so-called "bunker hospital," built in 2014 and located more than 16 metres underground, can accommodate up to 1,400 patients, both soldiers and civilians, according to its website.

Normally used as a car park, the facility is also fortified against biological and chemical attacks.

Since the war began in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, which is allied with Hezbollah, there have been almost daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in the border area between the two countries.

There have been deaths on both sides, most of them members of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas.