Israeli strikes kill 36 people in Gaza, 3 journalists in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes killed 36 people, many of them children, in Gaza and three journalists in Lebanon on Friday, as worries grew about supply shortages in Gaza and international pressure for a cease-fire mounted.
The deaths reported by Gaza health officials were the latest in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where people have in recent days lined up for bread outside the city’s only bakery in operation. They come a day after United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel had accomplished its objective of “effectively dismantling” Hamas and implored both sides to revive negotiations.
Hours before Blinken was set to meet with Arab leaders in London on Friday, an Israeli airstrike on guesthouses where journalists were staying in southeast Lebanon killed three media staffers. Outside of now-collapsed buildings rented by various media outlets, cars marked “PRESS” lay covered in dust and rubble after the strike, Associated Press photos showed. The Israeli army did not issue a warning prior to the strike.
Representatives of the news networks and Lebanese politicians accused Israel of war crimes and intentionally targeting journalists.
“These were just journalists that were sleeping in bed after long days of covering the conflict,” said Imran Khan, a senior correspondent for Al Jazeera English who was among the journalists in the compound.
In a social media post, he said he and his team were unhurt. The Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers — camera operator Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida — were among the journalists killed early Friday. Al-Manar TV of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said its camera operator Wissam Qassim was also killed in the airstrike on the Hasbaya region.
Al-Mayadeen’s director Ghassan bin Jiddo alleged that the Israeli strike on a compound housing journalists was intentional and directed at those covering elements of its military offensive. He vowed that the Beirut-based station would continue its work.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary said the journalists were killed while broadcasting what he called Israel’s crimes, and noted they were among a large group of members of the media.
“This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with premeditation and planning, as there were 18 journalists present at the location representing seven media institutions,” he wrote in a
post on X.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment
on the strike.
Ali Shoeib, Al-Manar’s well-known correspondent in south Lebanon, was seen in a video filming himself with a cellphone saying that the camera operator who had been working with him for months was killed. Shoeib said the Israeli military knew that the area that was struck housed journalists of different media organisations.
“We were reporting the news and showing the suffering of the victims, and now we are the news and the victims of Israel’s crimes,” Shoeib stated in a video aired on Al-Manar TV. The Hasbaya region has largely avoided the violence along the border, attracting journalists fleeing sporadic strikes in nearby Marjayoun.
Earlier this week, an attack struck an Al-Mayadeen office on the outskirts of Beirut.
Since clashes began along the Lebanon-Israel border in early October, Lebanon’s Health Minister reported that 11 journalists have been killed and eight wounded. In November 2023, two Al-Mayadeen journalists were killed in a drone strike. Prior to that, Israeli shelling claimed the life of Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded other journalists.
The killing of journalists has drawn international condemnation, with press advocacy groups and UN experts urging action. Although Israel claims it does not deliberately target journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists noted that 128 have been killed in Gaza since the war began.
The conflict escalated when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250.
In Gaza, recent Israeli airstrikes have reportedly killed 36, including 14 children from a single family.
The Israeli offensive has resulted in over 42,000 Palestinian deaths, with the majority being women and children, while Israel claims to have killed over 17,000 militants. The situation in Lebanon remains dire, with 2,593 reported deaths
since October. agencies
