Lebanon accuses Israel of blocking attempt to rescue journalist after bomb strike | Lebanon
Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon wounded one journalist and another trapped under rubble on Wednesday, with rescuers temporarily prevented from reaching him by ongoing Israeli fire, Lebanon’s health ministry, a senior military official and press advocates said.
The Israeli army said in a statement that it had received reports that two journalists were injured as a result of the attacks and denied that it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area.
Journalist Amal Khalil and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were following the developments near the town of al-Tayri when the Israeli attack hit the car in front of them. The Lebanese health ministry, senior Lebanese military official and media advocates said they came across a nearby house that was also the target of the Israeli attack. According to Elsy Moufarrej, director of the Lebanese Union of Journalists, Lebanese rescue teams managed to save Faraj, who suffered a head injury.
When rescuers returned to help Khalil, the Israeli army fired a stun grenade, blocking access to the damaged building, Moufarrej and the senior military official said.
The health ministry said the Israeli army “prevented the completion of the humanitarian mission by throwing stun grenades and live ammunition at ambulances.”
Moufarrej told Reuters that rescuers were able to return to the area about four hours after the initial attack. Halil’s fate was not immediately clear. Lebanese state media reported that two people died in the initial attack on the vehicle. Reuters could not immediately confirm the identities of the two people killed.
The Israeli military said it detected two vehicles leaving a military structure used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and crossing the “forward defense line”, the Israeli military’s term for the borders of the southern Lebanon region occupied by Israeli troops.
He said the cars “approached the troops in a way that threatened their safety” and hit first one of the vehicles and then a nearby building. The Israeli military said it did not target journalists. In March, three journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, and the Israeli army announced that it had targeted one of the journalists.
More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched an offensive in response to Hezbollah firing missiles at Israel, according to Lebanese officials.
Israel seized an area on the border where its soldiers were stationed, saying it aimed to create a buffer zone to protect northern Israel against attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the conflict.
