An Israeli drone dropped a grenade on rescuers trying to lift a wounded journalist from rubble in Tayri, in southern Lebanon.
A senior Lebanese military official said on Wednesday that the Lebanese army asked the Israeli military through a US-led mechanism to allow rescuers to retrieve the wounded journalist.
Israeli forces had earlier besieged two journalists in the southern town of Tayri, in Bint Jbeil and prevented the Red Cross from reaching them, according to the state news agency.
The National News Agency (NNA) reported that “Israeli occupation forces are besieging journalists Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj, and preventing the Red Cross and the Lebanese army from reaching them.”
The development followed an Israeli air strike that targeted a car in the same town, killing two people inside, the agency said.
Preventing ambulance teams
In a later update, NNA reported that “several people, including journalists,” were wounded in a second airstrike on Tayri, without specifying the number of casualties.
The agency added that an Israeli strike targeted the main road linking the town with Haddatha “to prevent ambulance teams from reaching the two journalists.”
Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said he is following up with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the Lebanese army on “the incident of Israeli occupation forces besieging journalists and photographers in the town of Tayri.”
On X, Morcos said: “We strongly condemn this attack and hold Israel fully responsible for their safety, stressing the need to ensure their protection immediately and guarantee freedom of media work.”
Separately, the head of the Lebanese Editors Syndicate, Joseph El Kosseifi, condemned Israel’s siege of journalists and photographers, holding it responsible for their safety.
Later, NNA reported in a breaking update that the Red Cross had reached Tayri to evacuate the two besieged journalists, without providing further details.
