Israeli strike on Lebanon journos ‘war crime’
Lebanon accused Israel of targeting journalists in a “deliberate” attack that killed three media workers in the country’s south on Friday, calling the incident a “war crime.”
Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen said cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda were killed in the strike on a compound housing the journalists in Hasbaya, south Lebanon.
Another TV outlet, Al-Manar, run by Hezbollah, said video journalist Wissam Qassem was also killed in the strike on a bungalow located in a resort that several media organizations covering the Israeli war had rented out.
The strike “targeting journalists” was, according to Prime Minister Najib Mikati, among the “war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy.” He also said the attack was “deliberate.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike, denouncing it as a “deliberate” attack on media personnel. In a post on X, Baghaei said that the attack was “another instance of Israel’s atrocious war crime.”
Journalists from other media organizations, including Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Sky News Arabic and Al Jazeera English, were also resting nearby when the strike hit, in an area outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
Friday’s deaths are the latest in a long list of journalists who have been killed by Israel in the past year in Gaza and Lebanon, with media reports putting the number of fatalities among reporters and journalists at north of 180.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza, Israel expanded its focus to Lebanon and last month launched a massive bombing campaign across the country, sending in ground troops on September 30.
The regime’s savage attacks have so far killed around 3,600 civilians in Lebanon, leaving over 12,000 others injured.
Strikes in Gaza
Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis killed at least 38 Palestinians and Israeli forces launched a night-time raid on a hospital in the north, Palestinian officials said.
The Gaza Ministry of Health said many of the casualties from the Israeli strikes on houses in southeast Khan Yunis were women and children, with approximately 28 from the Alfarra family.
The Israeli attack, which included airstrikes and shelling, according to health officials, targeted several residential buildings in neighborhoods east of Khan Younis. Six members of the Abdeen family were also killed, according to health officials.
‘Ethnic cleansing’
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for pressure on Israel to end “ethnic cleansing”, in strong remarks as he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London.
Deploring the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, Jordan’s Ayman Safadi told Blinken, “We do see ethnic cleansing taking place, and that has got to stop.”