Israeli strikes kill 38 people in Gaza, 3 journalists in Lebanon

 

 

ISRAELI strikes killed 38 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 ceasefire 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 south-east 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 on 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. Later in the day, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi in London, where the Arab leader accused Israel of engaging in ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Safadi did not mince words when describing Israel’s role in the conflicts, saying ceasefire negotiation mediators are trying to “get through the nightmare that the region continues to live in.”