At about 3 a.m. on October 25, 2024, an airstrike hit a compound housing 18 journalists from multiple media outlets in south Lebanon’s Hasbaya area, killing Al-Mayadeen TV’s camera operator Ghassan Najjar, broadcast engineer Mohammed Reda, and Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV’s camera operator Wissam Kassem.

The three injured were reported to be camera operator Hassan Hoteit and assistant camera operator Zakaria Fadel of the media production company Isol and Al Jazeera camera operator Ali Mortada.

The journalists had moved to Hasbaya from Marjayoun, which is further south and had been hit by Israeli strikes.

Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib said in a video aired by his outlet that the Israeli military knew that the area that was struck housed journalists of different media organizations, The Associated Press reported

The privately owned local news station Al Jadeed aired footage showing collapsed buildings and cars marked “Press” strewn with dust and rubble and its correspondent Mohammed Farhat posted a video showing his bed covered in rubble.

Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makary described the attack as a “war crime.”

“This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists in the place representing seven media institutions,” he said.