Tel Aviv — Three journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday on a settlement in southern Lebanon known to host more than a dozen journalists from various organizations. Lebanese Ministry of Health. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called the attack deliberate and “war crimes committed by the enemy of Israel.”

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately comment on the attack but later said it was investigating the matter.

It was stated that the three journalists were two camera operators and an engineer who worked for media companies affiliated with Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanese group supported by Iran. increasing war for a year. Hezbollah has long been designated a terrorist group by the United States, Israel and many other countries.

A pre-dawn attack about five miles inside the Lebanese border leveled a building and destroyed at least one vehicle bearing a “PRESS” sticker.

The Associated Press and other agencies said there was no warning before the attack on the guesthouse where the journalists were sleeping.

The IDF reported five deaths in southern Lebanon on Thursday, saying Hezbollah militants emerged from a tunnel and began throwing grenades, prompting Israeli soldiers to return fire.

The IDF says 22 of its soldiers have been killed in action in southern Lebanon since Israel launched ground operations in early October.

The Israeli military has also cracked down and stepped up Hezbollah’s attacks on Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip. Killing of the group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar earlier this month. Health officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian territories announced on Friday that at least 38 people were killed in the attacks of the Israeli Armed Forces in the city of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, and at least 14 children were among the dead.

In the north of the area, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last hospital in the area after two neighboring facilities went out of service in recent days. The hospital is located in Beit Lahia, northwest of Jabalia, which has been the main focus of IDF operations in recent weeks.

Health workers said IDF troops entered the hospital around midnight, shortly after the World Health Organization delegation left the facility.

In a statement, the IDF said that forces operated in the hospital area “based on intelligence information regarding the presence of terrorists in the area and the terrorist infrastructure” and “eliminated hundreds of terrorists” there. The IDF said it evacuated approximately 45,000 Palestinian civilians before the operation.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed in operations in northern Gaza, the Israeli Armed Forces said on Friday.

Amid ongoing conflict in Lebanon and Gaza, US Secretary of State Antonly Blinken returned to the region this week and pressed for a peace agreement.

Blinken was in London on Friday, following his 11th visit to the Middle East in a year, where he was meeting with counterparts from Jordan and Qatar and Lebanon’s interim prime minister.

After meeting with Jordan’s foreign minister, the State Department issued a statement saying Blinken “underlined the importance of ending the war in Gaza, ensuring the release of all hostages, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

On Lebanon, Blinken told Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadiin that the United States is committed to working with regional partners “to achieve lasting stability” by seeking a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict based on an existing United Nations resolution.

Blinken said Israel cannot leave its soldiers in Lebanon for a long period of time and that the IDF must do more to avoid harming civilians, Lebanese military forces and Israel. UN peacekeepers It is located in the south of the country.

Israel confirmed on Thursday that it would send its intelligence chief David Barnea to Qatar on Sunday for a new round of talks with US and regional officials aimed at signing a ceasefire agreement. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to attend the meetings, as well as the prime minister of Qatar, which was one of the mediator countries last year.

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