ISRAELI attacks have killed five people in southern Lebanon, including a journalist, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported, further straining a fragile ceasefire.
An initial Israeli strike hit a car in at-Tiri, a village in south Lebanon, killing two people inside, NNA said on Wednesday.
Israel’s military said it struck two vehicles in southern Lebanon that departed from a military structure used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The NNA reported that a later air strike on a building in the same village wounded a journalist, who was trapped under rubble. Amal Khalil, who worked for the local media outlet Al Akhbar, was later found dead at the scene, her employer confirmed.
Reporting from Tyre, southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett said two journalists from local media outlet Al Akhbar had travelled to the site of the first attack in at-Tiri.
“Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj had gone to the site of an earlier Israeli drone strike on a car, which reportedly killed two civilians in the town of at-Tiri,” Pett reported.
“For several hours … the Red Cross and rescue workers [tried] to reach those two journalists. They were unable to do that for a long time due to continued Israeli attacks in the area.”
Faraj was brought to a local hospital and was reportedly in “very serious condition and will be requiring surgery”, Pett reported.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Health had earlier said Israel “pursued” the journalists by “targeting” the building where they took shelter.
NNA reported that an Israeli strike targeted the main road linking the town with Haddatha “to prevent ambulance teams from reaching the two journalists”.
Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos condemned the Israeli attack on the journalists.
“We strongly condemn this assault, holding Israel fully responsible for their safety, and affirming the necessity of immediately ensuring their protection and guaranteeing freedom of media work,” Morcos said on X.
The Israeli military statement said it “does not target journalists and acts to mitigate harm to them” while also denying preventing rescue services from reaching the site of the attack in at-Tiri.
Last month, an Israeli attack on a clearly marked press vehicle killed three journalists in southern Lebanon.
Separately on Wednesday, two people were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli attack on the town of Yohmor al-Shaqif, also in southern Lebanon, NNA reported.
More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched its offensive and subsequent invasion of southern Lebanon. Israel has seized a belt of territory at the border where its troops remain.
The latest attacks come on the eve of planned talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut would seek an extension of the 10-day, United States-mediated ceasefire, which is set to expire on Sunday.