BEIRUT: An Israeli strike killed two journalists working for a Lebanese TV channel and a third person near the border with Israel on Tuesday, Lebanese state media and the channel, Al Mayadeen, said.
The deaths add to a toll of more than 50 journalists killed covering the war between Israel and Hamas and its spillover to other parts of the region since Oct. 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Most of those have been killed in the Gaza Strip, which Israel bombarded and invaded after Palestinian militant group Hamas waged a deadly assault against Israelis.
Violence along Lebanon’s border with Israel broke out after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah — a Hamas ally — have fired rockets at each other in fighting that has steadily escalated.
Al Mayadeen said the Israeli strike on Tuesday near the town of Tir Harfa, about a mile from the Israeli frontier, had deliberately targeted the TV crew because the channel was known to be pro-Palestinian and pro-Iran’s regional military alliance.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement that the strike was an Israeli attempt to silence the media, adding there were “no limits to Israeli crimes.”
Israel’s military said it was “aware of a claim regarding journalists ... who were killed as a result of (Israeli army) fire.
“This is an area with active hostilities, where exchange of fire occur. Presence in the area is dangerous,” it said.
The Israeli military has previously said it cannot guarantee journalists’ safety in areas where it is fighting.
A second Israeli strike on a car about seven miles (11 km) from the border and near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre killed four people later in the day, the state news agency reported. It did not give details.
Hezbollah said it had retaliated over the killing of the journalists by firing at an Israeli base across the border.
Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah broke out along the border after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The Hamas attack killed 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli tallies. Israel in response has bombarded and invaded the Gaza Strip, killing at least 13,300 people according to the Hamas-run Gaza government.
Israel-Lebanon border violence has escalated, raising Western fears of a widening war in the Middle East that could draw in both the United States and Iran.
It is the worst violence at the border since Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 and has so far killed more than 70 Hezbollah fighters, 13 Lebanese civilians, seven Israeli troops and three Israeli civilians.
Al Mayadeen named its killed journalists as Farah Omar, a correspondent, and Rabie Al-Memari, a camera operator.
The third person killed in the strike was Hussein Aqil, who was at the site where the crew was filming. Al Mayadeen told Reuters he was not working with the channel.
Israeli strike kills two reporters, third person in Lebanon — media, PM
https://arab.news/n7tdw
Israeli strike kills two reporters, third person in Lebanon — media, PM
- Al Mayadeen reports that Israel deliberately targeted the TV crew located near the border
- Journalists’ death toll reaches more than 50 since beginning of the conflict
Foreign media group slams Israel for refusing to lift Gaza press ban
- Foreign Press Association expresses 'profound disappointment' with Israeli government’s response to a Supreme Court appeal
- Israel has barred foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory since the war started
JERUSALEM: An international media association on Tuesday criticized the Israeli government for maintaining its ban on unrestricted media access to Gaza, calling the move disappointing.
The government had told the Supreme Court in a submission late Sunday that the ban should remain in place, citing security risks in the Gaza Strip.
The submission was in response to a petition filed by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) — which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and Palestinian territories — seeking immediate and unrestricted access for foreign journalists to the Gaza Strip.
“The Foreign Press Association expresses its profound disappointment with the Israeli government’s latest response to our appeal for full and free access to the Gaza Strip,” the association said on Tuesday.
“Instead of presenting a plan for allowing journalists into Gaza independently and letting us work alongside our brave Palestinian colleagues, the government has decided once again to lock us out” despite the ceasefire in the territory, it added.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by an attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the government has barred foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Instead, Israel has allowed only a limited number of reporters to enter Gaza on a case-by-case basis, embedded with its military inside the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The FPA filed its petition in 2024, after which the court granted the government several extensions to submit its response.
Last month, however, the court set January 4 as a final deadline for the government to present a plan for allowing media access to Gaza.
In its submission, the government maintained that the ban should remain in place.
“This is for security reasons, based on the position of the defense establishment, which maintains that a security risk associated with such entry still exists,” the government submission said.
The government also said that the search for the remains of the last hostage held in Gaza was ongoing, suggesting that allowing journalists in at this stage could hinder the operation.
The remains of Ran Gvili, whose body was taken to Gaza after he was killed during Hamas’s 2023 attack, have still not been recovered despite the ceasefire.
The FPA said it planned to submit a “robust response” to the court, and expressed hope the “judges will put an end to this charade.”
“The FPA is confident that the court will provide justice in light of the continuous infringement of the fundamental principles of freedom of speech, the public’s right to know and free press,” the association added.
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on the matter, though it is unclear when a decision will be handed down.
An AFP journalist sits on the board of the FPA.
