Three journalists are killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military said it is investigating the reports. The deaths came during the ongoing heavy fighting in southern Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, with Israel announcing the deaths of ten soldiers in Lebanon in the past day, in addition to three soldiers in Gaza.

The deaths of the journalists, who worked for Hezbollah-affiliated media, added to the growing number of media workers killed in the region since the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by the militant Hamas group. It was the deadliest day for journalists in Lebanon during the latest round of fighting.

Al-Mayadeen, the news network that employed two of the journalists killed on Friday, previously reported that its evacuated office in Beirut was hit by an airstrike on Wednesday.

The strike on Friday morning killed cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Muhammad Reda, both of whom worked for Al-Mayadeen. Wissam Qasim, a cameraman for Hezbollah-affiliated outlet Al-Manar, was also killed, Al-Mayadeen reported.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited the region to push for a ceasefire, told reporters on Thursday that “far too many journalists have lost their lives in Gaza.”

“We strongly support the work of journalists in Gaza and elsewhere around the world, including in conflict zones,” Blinken said in Doha, Qatar.

The US diplomat arrived in the Middle East this week to push for an end to fighting in Gaza and Lebanon. He was due to meet in London later Friday with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and top diplomats from other Arab countries.

While in Israel on Tuesday, Blinken urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow more aid to northern Gaza, warning that a refusal to do so would jeopardize US military support for Israel. He later announced a plan to send $135 million in aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the broader region.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday that “the situation is getting unimaginably worse by the day” in northern Gaza, with reports of non-stop bombings and families being separated and detained.

The policy could rid northern Gaza of all Palestinians, he said. “We are confronted with what could amount to atrocities, which may also extend to crimes against humanity.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Friday that Israeli forces had stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital after shelling it the night before, and some displaced men had been stripped naked and detained. Kamal Adwan was the only hospital still functioning in northern Gaza, and staff had said this week they were facing extreme shortages.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, secretary general of the World Health Organization, wrote on

Gaza’s Health Ministry also reported on Friday that 38 people had been killed and dozens of others had been injured in southern Gaza near Khan Younis overnight.

Muhammad Farhat, a reporter for local TV station Aljadeed, said in an interview that he was staying in another home on the same property where the journalists were killed on Friday. The compound had a total of eight bungalows, all of which were occupied by journalists from local and international media.

Farhat said he woke up to the sound of Israeli fighter jets and seconds later two rockets hit the bungalow next to his.

The impact of the strike caused the roof of his bungalow to collapse, Farhat said. When he came outside, he saw that the neighboring house had ‘disappeared’ due to the force of the strike.

Photos at the scene showed a bulldozed building and a heavily damaged truck with a prominent “PRESS” marking on it.

Despite the attack, journalists continued to report on the ground. Ali Shoeib, a correspondent for Al Manar who worked with Qasim, told his viewers: “I am now filming myself because the cameraman who accompanied me for days, nights and months is now a martyr.”

In a statement, Al-Mayadeen said it holds Israel fully responsible for the deaths, calling the attack “an aggression against all press crews.” The Public Health Emergency Operations Center said in a statement that three other journalists were injured.

According to Al-Mayadeen, Hasbaya was not under evacuation orders. Farhat said journalists had coordinated their movements with both the Lebanese army and the United Nations. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the reports.

Many of the journalists staying there have moved from the nearby town of Marjayoun, which has seen sporadic strikes in recent weeks, the Associated Press reported.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which tracks deaths of reporters worldwide, said earlier this week that 123 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the October 7, 2023, attacks and subsequent war in Gaza and on the Israel-Lebanon border, along with two Israeli and three Lebanese colleagues.