Israel is accused of killing journalists in a strike in Lebanon and children during a military raid on a hospital in Gaza

Tel Aviv – An Israeli airstrike killed three journalists on Friday in southern Lebanon, in an area known to be home to more than ten journalists from various organizations, according to Lebanon's health ministry. 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 strike, but later said it was looking into it.

The three journalists were identified as two cameramen and one engineer who worked for media companies linked to Iran and the Lebanese group it supports, Hezbollah, which Israel has been in trouble with. a growing war per year. Hezbollah has long been designated a terrorist group by the US, Israel and many other nations.

The pre-dawn strike about five miles inside the Lebanese border destroyed a building and destroyed at least one vehicle marked “PRESS.”

The Associated Press and other agencies said no warning was issued before the strike at the guest house where the journalists were staying.

The IDF reported that five people were wounded in southern Lebanon on Thursday, saying that Hezbollah terrorists came out of a tunnel and began to destroy the bombs, prompting Israeli forces to return fire.

The IDF says 22 of its soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon since Israel began an operation there in early October.

The Israeli military has also continued to intensify its attacks on Hezbollah's Hamas allies in the Gaza Strip since the killing of the leader of this group, Yahya Sinwar earlier this month. IDF strikes killed at least 38 people in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, health officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory said on Friday, and at least 14 children were reported dead.

In the north of the enclave, Israeli forces raided the last operating hospital in the area, Kamal Adwan Hospital, after two other neighboring facilities were shut down in recent days. The hospital is located in Beit Lahia, northwest of Jabalia, which has been the focus of IDF operations in recent weeks.

Health workers said that IDF soldiers entered the hospital at midnight, shortly after the World Health Organization team left the facility.

In a statement, the IDF said that the soldiers operated in the area of ​​the hospital “based on intelligence information about the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the area,” and that they “eliminated hundreds of terrorists” there. The IDF said it had evacuated about 45,000 Palestinians before the operation.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed during the operation in northern Gaza, the IDF said on Friday.

Amid ongoing fighting in Lebanon and Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the region this week to push for a peace deal.

After his eleventh visit to the Middle East this year, Blinken was in London on Friday, where he met with his Jordanian and Qatari counterparts, as well as the Lebanese prime minister.

After his conversation with the Jordanian Foreign Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that Blinken, “stressed the importance of ending the war in Gaza, obtaining the release of all the hostages, and reducing the suffering of the Palestinian people.”

In Lebanon, Blinken told the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadiin that the US is still willing to work with its regional partners “to establish lasting stability” by seeking a political solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah based on the existing resolution of the United Nations.

Blinken said Israel cannot afford to leave its troops in Lebanon for long, and that the IDF must do more to avoid harming civilians, Lebanese soldiers and UN peacekeepers based in the south of the country.

Israel confirmed on Thursday that it will send its spy chief David Barnea to Qatar on Sunday for another series of talks with US and regional officials aimed at establishing a ceasefire agreement. CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to join the meetings, along with the prime minister of Qatar, which served as one of the country's mediators last year.