A man holds portraits of journalists Ali Shoeib and Fatima Ftouni in Beirut, March 28, 2026; both were killed the same day in Jezzine when their vehicle was hit by an Israeli airstrike. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient-Le Jour)
Israel claimed Monday that one of the journalists it killed over the weekend in Lebanon was affiliated with Hezbollah, without providing any evidence.
An Israeli strike on Saturday killed three journalists in Lebanon's Jezzine: Ali Shoeib of Hezbollah's Al-Manar channel and Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, seen as close to the Iran-backed movement, along with Ftouni's brother, cameraman Mohammad Ftouni.
The Israeli military said it had killed Shoeib soon after the strike, alleging that he "operated within the Hezbollah terrorist organization under the guise of a journalist."
On Monday, the military confirmed it had killed Mohammad Ftouni in the same strike.
It is alleged that Mohammad Ftouni, "an additional terrorist in Hezbollah's military wing, who also operated under the guise of a journalist, was eliminated."
The military has not provided any evidence to support its claims that Shoeib and Ftouni were Hezbollah operatives.
"We emphasize that the [Israeli military] directs its strikes to target terrorists, and not journalists," the military said.
Asked on Monday by AFP to provide evidence for its claims, the military said: "No what we have is what we can state."
Shoeib was a veteran correspondent for Al Manar TV, who had covered conflicts and politics in Lebanon for decades.
In its statement on Monday, the military further said that it was "aware of reports that an additional female journalist who was with the terrorists was killed in the strike" over the weekend.
Israel has killed 11 journalists in Lebanon since March 2
Since the start of a previous round of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented at least 11 journalists and press workers killed by Israel in Lebanon.
In the Gaza Strip, where Israel fought a war against the Palestinian armed group Hamas from October 2023 until a cease-fire last year, 210 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by the Israeli military, the CPJ said.
Lebanon was pulled into the current Middle East war when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in revenge for the killing of Iran's supreme leader in the opening salvo of the U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.
Israel responded with large-scale airstrikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the South.
Lebanese authorities say that Israel has killed at least 1,189 people since the war on Lebanon started.
Six Israeli soldiers have also been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the military said.
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