Hezbollah Members Attack Journalists Covering Border Negotiations

An Israeli crane erects a wall near border, as seen from Lebanon, near Lebanon's Naqoura, March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
An Israeli crane erects a wall near border, as seen from Lebanon, near Lebanon's Naqoura, March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Members Attack Journalists Covering Border Negotiations

An Israeli crane erects a wall near border, as seen from Lebanon, near Lebanon's Naqoura, March 6, 2018. (Reuters)
An Israeli crane erects a wall near border, as seen from Lebanon, near Lebanon's Naqoura, March 6, 2018. (Reuters)

Members of the Lebanese Hezbollah attacked media teams that were covering the round of border demarcation talks in Naqoura on Wednesday.

Annahar newspaper correspondent Faraj Obaji stated that the officers identified themselves as being from Hezbollah group, adding that three of them stormed into the media field offices, asking the journalists to leave, based on a decision by the party.

The Hezbollah members also prevented the journalists from filming and requested them to leave the area immediately.

Security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the army has designated a media point prior to the beginning of the talks," but apparently a number of media professionals have moved into areas controlled by Hezbollah, which raised the party’s objection.

Lebanon TV correspondent Nayla Shahwan said on Facebook that she and the photographers’ team were attacked by partisan elements while covering the second round of demarcation negotiations in Naqoura.

“As we were covering the negotiation session in Naqoura and after obtaining permission from the Lebanese army, three young men expelled us from the area and identified themselves as being from a specific party. When I tried to contact the concerned people in my station, they accused me of taking pictures of them; so they took the phone and threw our cameras, and gave us 3 minutes to leave,” she recounted.

The attack was condemned by caretaker Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad and the head of the Journalists’ Syndicate, Joseph Al-Qosaifi.

“What happened is reprehensible and requires the intervention of the relevant security services to preserve the security of journalists and the dignity of the profession,” Abdel Samad said.

Al-Qosaifi, for his part, called on the concerned authorities to “take all measures to protect journalists and media professionals and provide safe conditions for their movement.”



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli airstrike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said.

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defense spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 "Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.