An Israeli air strike has killed at least three journalists as they slept in their accommodation in southern Lebanon, in what news outlets say was a direct hit on an area removed from the continuing conflict between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.
The air raid hit a compound in Hasbaiyya housing several journalists at about 4am (01:00 GMT) on Friday, killing two cameramen and a technician.
“This is a very serious incident. Israel didn’t give any warning,” Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said, reporting from the southern Lebanese city. “Hasbaiyya is under no evacuation orders and, in fact, it has been relatively calm.”
The victims were identified as cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda who worked for Al Mayadeen, the pan-Arab TV channel said. Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said its camera operator Wissam Qassim was also killed.
Reporters at the scene said the bungalow where the men were sleeping was directly targeted.
Local news station Al Jadeed aired footage showing collapsed buildings and cars marked “press” covered in dust and rubble.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makary called the attack “a war crime”.
“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 on social media platform X.
Ghassan bin Jiddo, the director of Al Mayadeen, said on X that Israel’s “targeting of the journalists’ residence was deliberate, and there are injured journalists from other Arab channels”.
“We hold the occupation fully responsible for this war crime, in which journalist crews, including the Al Mayadeen team, were targeted.”
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman condemned what he called “another instance of Israeli atrocious war crime by deliberately targeting journalists”.
Esmail Baghaei wrote in a post on X that the killing of the three media workers was “a horrific crime” by Israel, saying journalists and their equipment are protected under international humanitarian law.
Israel’s military said it is investigating the incident.
“Several hours after the strike, reports were received that journalists had been hit during the strike. The incident is under review,” it said in a statement.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for an independent probe to determine whether the attack was deliberate.
“Deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime under international law. This attack must be independently investigated and the perpetrators must be held to account,” CPJ said in a statement.
‘Message to journalists’
The attack comes a day after an Israeli strike hit an office used by Al Mayadeen in Beirut’s southern suburbs that killed one person and wounded five others.
Al Jazeera’s Khan said “it doesn’t matter whether you like that news organisation or you dislike that news organisation. If you are a democracy, freedom of speech is a core value.”
He added that the attack was “a deliberate message to all journalists”, who would now be leaving the area.
“Clearly, they are trying to blind the world to what’s going on in southern Lebanon by targeting journalists,” Khan said of the Israeli military.
In November, two journalists for Al Mayadeen TV were killed in a drone strike, which the network said was deliberate.
A month earlier, Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded other journalists from the AFP news agency and Al Jazeera.
Journalists have faced unprecedented danger while covering Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Frank Smyth, the founder of the organisation Global Journalist Security, told Al Jazeera that more journalists have been killed in the Palestinian enclave in the past year than in any other conflict worldwide, with the majority being local reporters covering their own communities.
Smyth emphasised that there is evidence that Israeli forces are directly targeting journalists, while indiscriminate bombings have also killed many media professionals.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly killed and threatened Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, whom they accused of being Hamas affiliates. The network has denied and condemned the claims.
