Israel detains patients and staff in raid on one of northern Gaza’s last hospitals, officials say

Israel was accused of war crimes on Friday after the killing of three journalists in Lebanon and ethnic cleansing as it watched a deadly offensive in Gaza despite renewed US efforts to secure a ceasefire this weekend.

The airstrike in southern Lebanon killed a trio of media workers, their networks and local officials said, prompting widespread reactions. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 38 people in southern Gaza, and Israeli forces detained patients and staff as they besieged and stormed one of the few functioning hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclaveaccording to local health officials.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attacks.

They came as secretary of state Antony Blinken wrapped up a Middle East tour aimed at ending the spiraling conflict in the region — and as American and Israeli negotiators prepared to travel to Qatar in the coming days to resume talks on a ceasefire with Hamas..

Talks will resume in Doha on Sunday, according to a senior administration official, as the US seeks to seize an opening to start negotiations after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. CIA Director William Burns will represent Washington as the intelligence chiefs of the US, Qatar, Egypt and Israel meet at a critical juncture.

Blinken met with the foreign minister of the regional broker Jordan, Ayman Safadi, in London on Friday morning. Safadi rebuked Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Gaza, accusing the country of “ethnic cleansing” with its offensive in northern Gaza, which has forced tens of thousands of people to flee and fueled fears of famine.

He also appeared to criticize Washington’s efforts to restrict Israel’s actions in the region, saying: “We have an Israeli government that listens to no one.”

In Lebanon, the pan-Arab network Al-Mayadeen TV in Beirut said two of its journalists — camera operator Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida — were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a compound housing journalists from the south- the east of the country, in Lebanon. in the early hours of Friday morning.

Photos from the scene showed burnt “PRESS” branded cars covered in debris.

Al-Manar broadcaster, which is owned by the Iran-backed political and militant group Hezbollah, said its camera operator Wissam Qassim was also killed in the strike, which took place in the Hasbaya region.

Lebanon’s health ministry said three other media workers were also wounded in the attack, which the ministry confirmed killed three, adding to the country’s death toll of more than 2,500 since hostilities between Israel began and Hezbollah last year.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike.

Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists in an attack he said was a “war crime”.

The deadly blow comes as Israel faces mounting accusations that it is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza, which it denies. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 128 journalists have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s year-long offensive in the enclave. CPJ has warned that more journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of Israel’s offensive in Gaza than have ever been killed in a single country in an entire year.

Earlier this week, the Israel Defense Forces named six journalists working with Al Jazeera, saying they were “exposed as Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”

The network denied the allegations as “a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region.” CPJ said Israel “has repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence.” In a statement published on social media on Friday, he said he “strongly condemns the killing of three journalists by Israel”.

“The international community must act to stop Israel’s long-standing pattern of impunity in killing journalists,” it said.

Dozens killed in Khan Younis and chaos at the hospital in northern Gaza

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the Health Ministry said 38 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli attacks on the southern town of Khan Younis. It also said that Israeli forces “have stormed and are present inside”. Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia as they continued a deadly assault on the enclave’s north.

The Health Ministry said hundreds of patients, medical staff and displaced Palestinians who had sought shelter at the hospital amid widespread Israeli attacks in northern Gaza were detained by Israeli forces.

“The situation inside the hospital is catastrophic in every sense of the word,” the Ministry of Health said.

The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News about the strikes in Khan Younis or the situation at the hospital Friday morning.

The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said his organization had lost contact with hospital staff.

“This development is deeply disturbing given the number of patients served and housed there,” he said.

He noted that before the reported raid, WHO and other partners managed to reach the hospital late Thursday night and transfer at least 23 patients and 26 caregivers to Al-Shifa hospital. He said the team also delivered 180 units of blood, trauma and surgical supplies and medicine.

COGAT, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians, said in a statement Friday that it helped facilitate the transfer. He also said that fuel had been delivered to the facility. COGAT made no reference to the reported hospital raid in its statement and did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from NBC News.

Israel has waged an intensified week-long offensive in northern Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of a spiraling humanitarian crisis. More than 600 people were killed in the offensive, according to local health officials.

The IDF said on Friday that its forces were continuing their assault on the Jabalia refugee camp, from which thousands have fled amid heavy airstrikes. She said her troops were active in both southern and central Gaza, where Israeli forces launched a deadly strike Thursday on a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp area. center” of the whole school.