Qatar Press Center condemns killing of journalists in Lebanon

The Qatar Press Center Friday condemned in the strongest terms the killing of 3 Lebanese journalists and the injuring 3 others this morning, in an Israeli bombardment that targeted their residence in the town of Hasbaya in the Nabatieh Governorate in southern Lebanon.The Center affirmed that the Israeli army’s targeting of journalists’ homes and locations during their coverage of the aggression on Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon is a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian charters, norms and laws, and a heinous crime to silence the free media and obstruct its transmission of the truth to the world.The Center condemned the Israeli occupation's continued systematic policy of arresting and assassinating journalists and their families without deterrence, in order to conceal the genocidal massacres committed by Israel against civilians, and to prevent journalists from revealing the truth to the world.The Center called on the international community, UN, human rights and media organizations to condemn the targeting of journalists with killing, arrest and intimidation, and to take urgent action to hold the Israeli occupation accountable before international courts for war crimes against journalists and media professionals, and to pressure it to stop the crimes of genocide, stop the assassination of journalists and harm to their safety. It calls on the international community to pressure Israel to release journalists detained in Israeli prisons, who are suffering from dire conditions that deprive them of the most basic rights of prisoners stipulated in international laws and conventions.The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the Israeli army launched a series of raids on various areas in southern Lebanon, on Thursday evening and Friday morning, resulting in deaths and injuries, including journalists, and the destruction of 4 buildings.Journalists at the scene said the strike directly targeted the residence.The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced that 3 journalists were killed while sleeping, and 3 others were injured in the Israeli raid on the headquarters in Hasbaya, Nabatieh.A statement issued by the Public Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Health said: The Israeli raid on the journalists’ residence in Hasbaya (in Nabatieh, south Lebanon) led to the martyrdom of three of those present at the headquarters, and the injury of three others, all of whom were journalists.The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen channel reported that among the dead were cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammed Reda, who both worked for the channel, and cameraman Wissam Qassem, who worked for Al-Manar TV, affiliated with Hezbollah.Al-Manar local channel announced the death of its cameraman, Wissam Qassem, in the Israeli raid.Earlier, Firas Al-Abyad, the caretaker Lebanese Minister of Health, announced that 11 journalists were killed and 8 wounded in Israeli attacks on the country since October, including the last 3 in Hasbaya.This is the third time that media crews have been targeted by Israel in southern Lebanon since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the killing of Reuters photographer Issam Abdullah in an Israeli attack on a group of journalists in the Alma al-Shaab area on October 13 of last year.An Israeli drone targeted the Al-Mayadeen TV crew in the town of Tyre Harfa (south) in November 2023, killing the channel’s correspondent Farah Omar and photographer Rabie Maamari.After clashes with factions in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, which began after Israel launched a genocide on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, Tel Aviv expanded the scope of the genocide to include most of Lebanon’s regions, including the capital Beirut, through air strikes, and began a ground invasion in the south.The Israeli aggression on Lebanon resulted in the deaths of 2,593 people and the injury of 12,119, including a large number of women and children, in addition to more than 1,400,000 displaced persons. Most of the victims and displaced persons were recorded after September 23, according to Anadolu Agency’s monitoring of official Lebanese data announced until Thursday evening.Joseph Al-Qasifi, the head of the Lebanese Journalists Syndicate, confirmed that the number of martyrs of the press in Lebanon is 9, not including the wounded and disabled as a result of the Israeli targeting, and what the occupation army did in targeting journalists is a full-fledged war crime.He said: The occupation deliberately targeted journalists, knowing that the building only contains them, in order to prevent its crimes from being documented. The occupation wants to spread terror and fear in the hearts of the remaining journalists, in order to prevent their crimes from being documented, especially in military operations.It is noteworthy that international organizations concerned with press freedom have recorded more than 173 murders of journalists in Gaza and the West Bank committed by the Israeli occupation forces since October 7, 2023 until now.