Israel is holding patients and staff in a raid on one of the last hospitals in northern Gaza, officials say

Israel was accused of war crimes on Friday after killing three journalists in Lebanon and of ethnic cleansing while carrying out a deadly offensive in Gaza, despite renewed US efforts to broker a ceasefire this weekend.

The airstrike in southern Lebanon killed three media workers, their networks and local officials said, sparking widespread reaction. 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 northern Palestinian enclave, local health officials said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attacks.

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

Talks will resume in Doha on Sunday, according to a senior government official, as the US seeks to exploit an opening to kick-start negotiations following the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. CIA Director William Burns will represent Washington as intelligence chiefs from the US, Qatar, Egypt and Israel meet at a crucial time.

Blinken met with regional broker Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi early Friday in London. 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 to flee and stoked fears of famine.

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

In Lebanon, Beirut-based pan-Arab network Al-Mayadeen TV said two of its journalists – cameraman Ghassan Najar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida – were both killed in an Israeli attack that hit a compound housing journalists in the country’s southeast. early Friday morning.

Photos from the scene showed burned-out cars marked “PRESS” covered in debris.

Broadcaster Al-Manar, owned by the Iran-backed militant and political group Hezbollah, said cameraman Wissam Qassim was also killed during the strike, which took place in the Hasbaya region.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said another three media workers were injured in the attack, with the ministry confirming three were killed, adding to the death toll of more than 2,500 people in the country since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah last year started.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

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

The deadly attack comes as Israel faces mounting accusations of deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza, which it denies. At least 128 journalists have been killed in Gaza during Israel’s years-long offensive in the enclave, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The 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 one country in an entire year.

Earlier this week, the Israeli military named six journalists working for Al Jazeera, saying they had been “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.” The CPJ said Israel has “repeatedly made similar unproven claims without providing credible evidence.” In a statement published on social media on Friday, it said it “strongly condemns Israel’s murder of three journalists.”

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

Dozens dead in Khan Younis and chaos in the hospital in North Gaza

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in Gaza said 38 people had been killed and dozens injured in Israeli attacks on the southern town of Khan Younis. Israeli forces were also said to have stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia and were present as they continued their deadly assault on the north of the enclave.

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 had been detained by Israeli forces.

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

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said his organization had lost contact with staff at the hospital.

“This development is very worrying given the number of patients being served and accommodated there,” he said.

He noted that prior to the reported raid, WHO and other partners had managed to reach the hospital late Thursday evening and transfer at least 23 patients and 26 healthcare providers to Al-Shifa Hospital. He said the team also delivered 180 units of blood, trauma and surgical supplies and medicines.

COGAT, Israel’s military liaison with the Palestinians, said in a statement Friday that it helped facilitate the transfer. It also said fuel was being delivered to the facility. COGAT did not refer to the hospital raid in its statement and did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from NBC News.

Israel has waged a weeks-long offensive in northern Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of a widening humanitarian crisis. More than 600 people have been killed in the offensive, according to local health officials.

The IDF said on Friday its forces continued their assault on the Jabalia refugee camp, from which thousands of people have fled due to heavy airstrikes. It said its forces were also active in both southern and central Gaza, where Israeli forces launched a deadly attack on a school near the Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday. The IDF said its forces targeted Hamas militants operating within a “command and control center” on the school grounds.