Israeli strikes killed 38 people in Gaza and three journalists in Lebanon on Friday as growing worries 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.
Also on Friday, an Israeli airstrike on guesthouses where journalists were staying in southeast Lebanon killed three media staffers working for news outlets that are seen as aligned with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and its patron, Iran.
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 Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its staffers camera operator Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida were among the journalists killed early Friday. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV 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, a pan-Arab broadcaster seen as aligned with Hezbollah, would continue its work.
The strike occurred hours after the Israeli military’s Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, directly challenged Al-Mayadeen war correspondent Ali Mortada in online posts and referred to him as “my enemy” in English. The X post ended with the English phrase “Take care.” Mortada was not involved in the strike. (AP)
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