Israel killed on Saturday at least three journalists covering its war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, local media and witnesses reported.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said its longtime correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed in southern Lebanon.
Israel's military claimed it had targeted Shoeib, accusing him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative, without providing any evidence.
A well-known Lebanese war correspondent, Shoeib had covered southern Lebanon for al-Manar TV for nearly three decades.
Meanwhile, Beirut-based pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said reporter Fatima Ftouni was killed in the same airstrike in the southern district of Jezzine along with her brother, Mohammed, a video journalist. She had just been on air with a live report before the strike.
Top officials in Lebanon condemned the strike, with President Joseph Aoun calling it a "flagrant crime that violates all laws and agreements that protect journalists."
Later Sunday, France's foreign minister said it would be "extremely serious" if Israel had deliberately targeted the three journalists.
"If it is indeed confirmed that the journalists in question were deliberately targeted by the Israeli army, then this is extremely serious and a blatant violation of international law," Jean-Noel Barrot told public broadcaster France 3.
He said journalists in war zones "must never be targeted in theaters of war, including when they have links with parties to the conflict."
The Israeli army claimed that Shoeib was "operating systematically to expose the locations of (Israeli) soldiers operating in southern Lebanon.”
It also accused him of maintaining contact with Hezbollah members and inciting against Israeli troops and civilians, without elaborating.
Al-Manar TV did not respond to the Israeli allegations but described its correspondent as "distinguished by his professional and credible reporting of events."
Israel’s claim mirrored past Israeli military allegations against Palestinian journalists that it targeted during the genocidal war on Gaza, accusing them of being Hamas members posing as reporters.
The Israeli military did not mention the two others who died in its statement.
Since the last Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, Israel’s air force has struck Hezbollah’s civilian targets, including the headquarters of al-Manar TV and the group’s al-Nour radio station.
Saturday’s strike came days after an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at al-Manar TV, along with his wife.
The latest deaths bring the number of journalists and media workers killed this year in Lebanon to five.
