The Israeli army has claimed that a strike that killed three journalists in south Lebanon was "under review", maintaining that it had targeted Hezbollah militants.
"Earlier today, following intelligence information, the IDF (army) struck a Hezbollah military structure in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon," the military said in a statement to AFP.
"The strike was carried out while the terrorists were located inside the structure," it added.
"Several hours after the strike, reports were received that journalists had been hit during the strike. The incident is under review."
Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused Israel of intentionally targeting the journalists in what he called a "war crime" that "aims to terrorise the media to cover up crimes and destruction".
Meanwhile, Hezbollah killed two people in northern Israel and violence raged in Gaza as the US pressed for a way out of the conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was an urgent need to get a diplomatic resolution, a day after he said the US did not want to see a protracted campaign in Lebanon by its ally Israel.
Israel launched its major offensive in Lebanon a month ago, claiming it was targeting the Hezbollah group to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from the north due to cross-border rocket attacks.
Lebanese authorities said Israel's offensive in the country has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1.2 million, sparking a humanitarian crisis.
Hezbollah stepped up its rocket attacks when the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered Israel's war in Gaza, where Palestinian officials said Israeli strikes had killed at least 72 people since last night.
In northern Gaza, a World Health Organization representative said its workers saw "mayhem and chaos" after an Israeli raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital.
The strike that killed two people in Majd al-Krum in northern Israel, according to Israeli media, followed a statement from Hezbollah saying that it targeted the northern Israeli town of Karmiel with a large missile salvo.
"The world must stop Iran now - before it's too late," Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said on X, formerly Twitter.
The journalists killed as they slept in guesthouses overnight in south Lebanon were Ghassan Najjar and Mohamed Reda of the news outlet Al-Mayadeen and Wissam Qassem, who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar, the outlets said in separate statements. Several other people were wounded.
Five journalists have been killed in previous Israeli strikes while reporting on the conflict, including Reuters visual journalist Issam Abdallah on 13 October 2023.
"This is a war crime," Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said.
At least 18 journalists from six media outlets, including Sky News and Al-Jazeera were using the guesthouses.
"We heard the airplane flying very low - that's what woke us up - and then we heard the two missiles," Muhammad Farhat, a reporter with Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, said.
His footage showed overturned and damaged cars, some marked "Press".
Sharing a post about the strike on X, formerly Twitter, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan wrote: "Deliberate killing of a journalist is a war crime."
Israel, which denies deliberately attacking journalists, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said Israeli forces had fired at their troops in an observation post in southern Dhayra on Tuesday.
Israel has denied deliberately targeting the force but claims that Hezbollah has built strongholds in close proximity to UNIFIL sites.
Israel's previous strikes on UNIFIL posts have drawn international condemnation.
Border crossing struck
Israel has used airstrikes to pound southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs, and has also sent ground forces into southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
The military said it struck weapon production sites and Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Beirut as well as Hezbollah targets around the Jousieh border crossing in the northern Bekaa Valley.
It claimed Hezbollah used the crossing, controlled by the Syrian military, to transfer weapons into Lebanon.
The Lebanese government said the strikes had knocked the crossing out of service, leaving the northern route as the only way to Syria, where the UN refugee agency said some 430,000 people had fled since Israel's campaign started.
"The attacks on the border crossings are a major concern," UNHCR spokesperson Rula Amin said. "They are blocking the path to safety for people fleeing conflict."
'Real urgency'
Mr Blinken said people on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border needed to be able return to their homes.
"We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along border between Israel and Lebanon," Mr Blinken said in London.
Hezbollah has kept fighting despite heavy blows, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Israel has announced the deaths of ten of its soldiers over the past two days.
The Israeli military said it had uncovered an underground command centre in a village close to the border with Israel and a site concealed in wooded terrain where Kornet anti-tank missiles, launchers, hand grenades and rifles were stored.
The US has expressed hope that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the 7 October attacks, could provide an impetus for an end to fighting, a sentiment also voiced by several senior Israeli army officers.
Two Egyptian security sources said a delegation led by the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency had been briefed by officials in Egypt on their talks with Hamas and its conditions for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
Israel has said Mossad chief David Barnea would meet with CIA director William Burns and the Qatari prime minister in Doha on Sunday.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who met Blinken in London, said "ethnic cleansing" was taking place in northern Gaza.
Israel denies such accusations, claiming it is separating civilians from Hamas militants and moving them to safer areas.
Mr Safadi said: "We are at the moment now where nothing justifies the continuation of the wars. Guns have to go silent."
